Venerator  of  King's  Slatup 

Dies  After  SS-Year  Vigil 

HONOLULU,  T.  H.,  Sept.  5  (UP).— 
Death  has  ended  the  curious  life  occu- 
pation of  Jose  de  Medeiros,  who  for 
thirty-five  years  passed  the  daylight 
hours  gazing  raptly  at  a  bronze  statue 
of  Kamehameha  the  Great,  first  ruler 
of  Hawaii. 

Jose— called  Joe  the  Statue-Worship- 
per— began  his  strange  veneration  in 
1896,  when  he  was  sixteen.     Daily  he 
would  appear  in  early  morning  before 
!  the  monument.    He  would  shuffle  back 
i  and  forth  or  stand  in  apparent  rapture 
1  staring  at  the  bronze  figure.  He  would 
'  depart  in  late  afternoon.        ^ 

Silent  Joe  Dies 

After  34-Year 

Vigil  at  Statue 

^lystery  Man  of  Honolulu 
Waits  in  Vain  for  King 
Kaniehanieha     to     Talk 


'Some  Day  HeStepDown' 

So    Thought    Peer    of    All 
Endurance      Champions 


Word  was  received  here  yesterday 
of  the  death  recently  in  Honolulu  of 
Joe  Medeiros,  the  barefooted  Portu- 
guese-Hawaiian who  is  remembered 
by  an  entire  generation  of  globe  trot- 
ters a.s  "The  Mystery  Man  of  Honolvilu." 
Old  Joe,  who  truly  was  one  of  the 
e.xtraordinaiy  characters  of  the  Pacific, 
possesssd  an  endurance  record  that 
put  in  the  shade  the  activities  of  such 
persons  as  marathon  dancers,  polei 
sitters,  pie-eating  champions  and  the 
like.  He  stood  -oluntary  guard  beforsi 
the  gilded  statue  of  Kamehameha  thW 
Great  In  the  plaza  between  lolanl 
Palace  and  the  Judiciary  Building, 
Honolulu,  for  thirty-four  years.  As 
to  vjy :  he  stood  there  day  after  day, 
year  after  year,  no  one  ever  found  cut. 
That  was  the  mvsterv  of  Joe. 


All  that  the  oldest  residents  of  Hono- 
luVu  ever  knew  Joe   to  say  :*;fs  that 
I '-Someday    he    step    down— thsn    we 
talk™     The  -he-  was  the  great  bronze 
Kamehameha  effigv  of  the  first  of  the 
Se"S  Hawaiian  kings,  the  ^Napoleon 
n'  the  Pacific"  v;ho  united  ths  i^ioup 
\  u;  goveinment  and  whose  intellect  ^vas 
.said  to  have  been  PioP^^^^'^^V^t^"  j^'^! 
•  mighty  stature  of  seven  feet.    Kameha 
;  meha' reigned    about    .th^    time    th« 
:  American  Colonies  were  setting  their 
1  faces  against  kings  in  S^neraL 
'      The   gilt   statue   of   the   great   Kins 
1  stands  today  in  the  middle  of  Hono- 
1  lulu  and  is  the  tribute  of  this  age  to  a 
man  whose  tactful  efficiency  made  a 
■^•ue  golden  one  of  his  reign  a  century 
and    a   half   ago.     Hence,   the   legend 
rote  t'hat'perhlps  Joe  Medeiros   whose 
fomiiv  came  from  the  Azores,  was  tne 
Sanation   of  some   far-wandenng 
PnrtuEuese    seaman    who    landea    i" 
Hawai'    when  Kamehameha  was  iang 
fnd  remained  there  to  live  and  love  as 
'his    heart    dictated.      Some,    however. 
1  said   that  the  reason   poor  Jof  s^°°^ 
there  before   the   statue  was  that  he 
in  his  youth  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii 
had  been  kicked  o"  ^he  'lead  by  a  calf. 
For  some  years.  Ruey  H.  Aiien.  cu  ^^ 

iJl  «mv.  vesart  the  donor  tolerantly 

and  return  to  his    joo. 

Jl-o?iiroiSi\etirt|3 
is-x^ToASorr^eVrSS 

He  was  filty-two  years  ^cl. 


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Cte  morlD  CO'Hap  ^erle$ 
THE 

COMING    HAWAII 


BY 

JOSEPH    KING    GOODRICH 

Sometime  Professor  in  the  Imperial 
Government  College,  Kyoto 


WITH  37  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.   McCLURG  &  CO. 

1914 


COPYRIGHT,     1914 
BY  THE    PLIMPTON    PRESS 


PUBLISHED,    MARCH,     I9I4 


Copyright  in  England 
All  rights  reserved 


THE  'PLIMPTON-PRESS 
NORWOOD-MASS-U-S-A 


PREFACE 

IT  will  be  noted,  when  reading  the  succeeding  pages, 
that  the  author  has  followed  the  example  of  one 
group  of  the  other  writers  about  Hawaii.  These  writers 
may  be  divided  into  two  principal  classes:  those  who 
have  little  to  say  which  is  not  praise,  and  those  who 
condemn  entirely.  If  the  present  writer  has  placed 
himself  in  the  first  division,  it  has  been  done  deliberately 
and  with  what  is  considered  ample  reason.  The 
Hawaiian  archipelago  is  attractive  in  almost  every  way, 
and  its  charms  are  of  the  kind  which  grow  in  number 
and  degree  for  him  whose  first  impressions  were  favour- 
able; while  even  for  him  who  had  to  admit  some  disap- 
pointment at  first,  a  lengthened  sojourn  almost  invariably 
transforms  this  into  enthusiasm. 

There  is  little  to  say  in  the  way  of  introduction  to  the 
chapters  which  follow.  The  author  has  been  adversely 
criticised  for  not  venturing  into  the  dangerous  field  of 
prophecy  when  discussing  the  future  of  some  other  coun- 
tries which  have  been  taken  as  the  subjects  of  other 
volumes  in  this  series:  China  and  Mexico,  for  example. 
He  still  believes  that  he  was  wise  in  refraining  from  all 
attempts  to  guess  at  the  political  future  of  those  coun- 
tries, for  recent  events  have  more  than  tended  to  show 
how  hazardous  prophecy  would  have  been.    It  would  be 


1530393 


VI  PREFACE 

a  simpler  task  in  the  case  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
for  its  future  is  now  Hnked  with  that  of  the  great  United 
States  proper;  nevertheless,  it  might  not  be  such  an  easy 
matter  as  it  seems  to  tell  what  is  to  be  the  future  of  our 
own  country  and  its  overseas  dependencies. 

One  pleasing  duty  is  cheerfully  discharged  in  this  brief 
Preface,  and  that  is  to  express  thanks  to  Mr.  H.  P.  Wood, 
Director  of  the  Hawaii  Promotion  Committee,  for  assist- 
ance rendered  in  procuring  the  photographs  which  have 
been  reproduced  as  illustrations,  and  for  furnishing  much 
of  the  valuable  data.  Like  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  T.  G. 
Thrum,  the  Honolulu  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  others 
who  have  suppUed  material. 

J.  K.  G. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Early  History i 

II.     Later  History 14 

III.  Recent  History 28 

IV.  Missionary  Efforts 47 

V.  Former  Social  Conditions       ....  59 

VI.  Land  Tenure  and  Cognate  Subjects     .  71 
VII.  The  Passing  of  Hawaiian  Rule  ...  81 
VIII.  The  Coming  of  American  Rule  ...  95 
IX.  Development  Under  American  Adminis- 
tration    107 

X.  The  Islands:  Descriptive       .      .      .      .  121 

XL     The  Hawaiian  People 135 

Xll.     Myths  and  Legends 149 

XIII.  The  Hawaiian  Flora 163 

XIV.  The  Hawaiian  Fauna 176 

XV.  Agriculture:    Especially    in    its    Eco- 
nomic Aspects 188 

XVI.    Other  Resources 202 

XVII.  The  Chinese  in  the  Archipelago     .      .  214 

XVIII.  The  Japanese  in  the  Archipelago    .      .  226 

XIX.  Mountains  and  Volcanoes      ....  239 


Vlli  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

XX.  Literature:  Native  and  Foreign 

XXI.  The  Polynesian  Language 

XXII.  Sports  and  Pastimes 

XXIII.  Social  Life 

XXIV.  Defence  of  the  Islands     . 
XXV.  The  Coming  Hawaii 


PAGE 
250 

260 

271 

282 


Bibliography 315 

Index 321 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  World  Famed  Waikiki  Beach,  Honolulu     .    .    .  Frontispiece 
Hawaiian  Grass  House  and  Cocoanut  Grove    .    .  Facing  page  lo 

The  City  of  Honolulu  from  the  Water  Front 44 

The  City  and  Harbour  of  Honolulu 44 

The  Central  Union  Church,  Honolulu 50 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Honolulu  ....  56 

The  Judiciary  Building,  Honolulu 108 

Shipping  in  Honolulu  Harbour no 

The  College  of  Hawaii 114 

One  of  Honolulu's  Public  Schools 118 

On  the  Hawaii  Coast 128 

On  the  Motor  Road  Around  the  Island 132 

Street  Scene,  Honolulu 140 

Fern  Forest  on  the  Road  to  the  Volcano  of  Kilauea    .    .    .  166 

Giant  Tree- Fern 170 

Mauna  Loa  Gardens:  Rice  and  Cocoanut  Growths     ....  172 

Hawaiian  Lei  Sellers 174 

Cutting  Sugar  Cane 188 

Sugar  Cane 192 

Sugar  MiU 192 

The  Largest  Pineapple  Cannery  in  the  World,  Honolulu     .  196 

The  Pineapple  Belt:  Ten  Thousand  Acres  of  the  Fruit      .    .  198 

A  Kona  Cofifee  Plantation:  Picking  the  Berries 200 

Chinese  Water-Buffalo      220 

The  Koolau  Range  from  the  Windward  Side  of  the  Island  .  240 

The  Crater  of  Kilauea  in  all  its  Glory 244 

A  Lava  Crack  on  the  Trail  to  the  Volcano 244 

Haleakala,   the    Largest    Extinct    Crater    in    the  World. 

(Interior  View) 248 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Pa-u  Rider:    One  of  the  Features  of  the  Mid-Pacific 

Carnivals  held  February  2 2d  every  Year .    .    .    Facing  page  272 

The  Road  down  the  Nuuanu  Pah,  Honolulu's  Show  Place    .  276 

Surf  Riders,  Waikiki  Beach 278 

Canoe  Surf  Riding,  Waikiki  Beach      278 

The  Oahu  Country  Club,  Honolulu 288 

Schofield  Barracks,  Honolulu 298 

Panoramic  View  of  Pearl  Harbour,  United  States  Naval  Base  298 

The  Wreck  of  the  United  States  Dry  Dock,  Pearl  Harbour  300 
The  Executive  Building,  Honolulu: 

Formerly  ex-Queen  Liliuokalani's  Palace 308 


THE    COMING    HAWAII 


CHAPTER    I 
EARLY   HISTORY 

THERE  can  surely  be  no  objection  to  taking  a 
somewhat  careful,  but  very  much  condensed, 
look  at  the  early  history  of  the  group  of  islands  which 
now  constitute  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  our  over- 
seas possessions.  It  is  really  necessary  to  do  this,  if 
we  are  to  be  in  a  position  to  think  even  of  what  may  be 
the  future  of  the  archipelago.  There  is  no  intention  of 
venturing  within  the  dangerous  realm  of  prophecy  in 
this  book,  if  by  that  expression  is  to  be  understood 
there  may  be  an  attempt  to  forecast  the  political  future 
of  Hawaii.  About  that  subject  it  is  not  purposed  to 
have  anything  to  say;  the  unwisdom  of  such  a  course 
must  be  manifest  to  all,  and  it  would  certainly  be 
offensive  to  some  readers,  no  matter  whether  it  were 
followed  in  the  spirit  of  the  brightest  optimism,  or 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  sourest  pessimist. 

Yet  just  what  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  to-day, 
economically  and  socially,  is  not  at  all  clearly  known  to 
many  Americans;  while  the  early  history  of  the  people 
is  not  so  familiar  to  a  goodly  number  as  to  make 
a  brief  resume  tedious.  We  must,  of  course,  accept 
in  the  beginning  of  the  narrative  the  name  by  which 
the  group  was  christened  in  1778  by  Captain  James 


2  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Cook,  who  wrote:  "I  named  the  whole  group  the 
Sandwich  Islands  in  honour  of  the  Earl  of  Sandwich." 
The  name  was  given  as  a  compliment  to  John  Montagu, 
fourth  Earl  of  Sandwich,  an  English  statesman,  trav- 
eller, and  author,  1718  to  1792;  at  the  time  of  Cook's 
most  celebrated  voyage.  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 
the  British  equivalent  for  our  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
The  reason  for  this  compUment  is  doubtless  to  be 
found  in  the  following  extract  from  Cook's  narra- 
tive:* "While  we  lay  in  Long  Reach,  thus  employed, 
the  Earl  of  Sandwich,  Sir  Hugh  PaUiser,  and  others 
of  the  Board  of  Admiralty,  as  the  last  mark  of  the 
very  great  attention  they  had  all  along  shewn  to 
this  equipment,  paid  us  a  visit  on  the  8th  of  June,  to 
examine  whether  everything  had  been  completed  con- 
formably to  their  intentions  and  orders,  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  who  were  to  embark  in  the  voyage. 
They,  and  several  other  Noblemen  and  Gentlemen, 
their  friends,  honoured  me  with  their  company  at 
dinner  on  that  day;  and  on  their  coming  on  board, 
and  also  on  their  going  ashore,  we  saluted  them  with 
seventeen  guns,  and  three  cheers." 

The   proper   native   appellation   for   the   cluster   of 

*"A  voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  undertaken  by  the  command  of 
His  Majesty  [George  HI  of  England]  for  making  discoveries  in  the  North- 
em  Hemisphere.  To  determine  the  position  and  extent  of  the  west  side 
of  North  America;  its  distance  from  Asia:  and  the  practicability  of  a 
northern  passage  to  Europe.  Performed  under  the  direction  of  Cap- 
tains Cook,  Gierke,  and  Gore,  in  His  Majesty's  ships  the  Resolution  and 
Discovery.  In  the  years  1776,  1777,  1778,  1779,  and  1780.  In  three 
volumes.  Volumes  I  and  II  written  by  Captain  James  Cook,  F.R.S., 
Volume  HI  by  Captain  James  King,  LL.D.  and  F.R.S."  It  should  be 
noted  that  this  narrative  is  designated  as  Cook's  Third  Voyage. 


EARLYHISTORY  3 

islands,  and  the  only  legitimate  one,  was  Hawaii  nei 
pae  aina;  this  was,  however,  susceptible  of  a  shght 
change  in  order,  to  Ka  pae  aina  o  Hawaii,  which  may 
be  rendered  in  English  as  "These  Hawaiian  Islands." 
Changing  these  into  the,  we  have  the  proper  term  that 
has  practically  superseded  the  one  bestowed  by  Cook. 
The  original  Hawaiian  phrase  was  derived  from  the 
largest  island  of  the  group,  Hawaii.  On  that  southern- 
most island  originated  the  family  which  reigned,  at 
first  locally  and  then  inclusively,  until  some  time  after 
the  middle  of  the  last  century. 

It  is  well  to  draw  the  attention  of  readers  to  the 
pronunciation  of  Hawaiian  words  as  they  are  expressed 
with  Roman  letters.  Every  vowel,  either  when  alone 
or  if  connected  with  a  consonant,  marks  a  distinct 
syllable.  All  pure  Hawaiian  vocables  may  be  repre- 
sented by  twelve  letters,  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  h,  k,  I,  m,  n,  p,  w. 
A  is  pronounced  as  in  father;  e  as  in  they;  i  as  in  marine; 
0  as  in  note;  u  as  in  rule  (never  as  in  mule,  that  is,  yu). 
In  a  very  few  words  the  a  is  slightly  shortened  until  it 
approximates  that  of  u  in  tub.  In  the  compounds  of 
waho,  as  ia  waho,  the  outside,  and  in  Oahu,  name  of  one 
of  the  islands,  a  has  the  very  broad  sound  given  it  in 
fall.  In  other  words,  the  vowels  have  the  ItaHan 
sounds  and  the  consonants  the  Enghsh.  If  double 
vowels  appear,  each  is  sounded,  and  when  the  same 
vowel  is  repeated  in  juxtaposition,  there  are  to  be  two 
separate  syllables:  Ha-wa-i-i-an,  not  Hawahyan! 
Every  word  and  syllable  must  end  with  a  vowel,  and 
no  two  consonants  are  ever  heard  without  an  inter- 
vening vowel  sound:  there  is  no  exception  to  this  rule. 


4  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

In  quite  a  number  of  words  there  is  a  guttural  break, 
or  catching  of  the  breath,  between  two  vowels.  This 
is  occasionally  noticed  at  the  beginning  of  the  word, 
but  it  is  much  more  frequent  in  the  middle.  Funda- 
mentally the  break  denotes  a  consonant  which  is 
actually  an  essential  part  of  the  word:  almost  invari- 
ably it  takes  the  place  of  the  South  Sea  k;  thus  the 
Polynesian  ika,  fish,  becomes  i'a  in  Hawaiian.  In 
writing  Hawaiian,  the  break  is  indicated  by  an  apos- 
trophe or  hyphen:  correct  pronunciation  must  be 
acquired  from  competent  lips;  but  further  examples 
may  be  given  with  ae,  to  assent,  a-e  to  pass  over,  to 
embark:  wau^  I,  wa^u,  to  scratch.  There  is  a  great 
distinction,  at  times,  between  long  and  short  vowels 
which  alters  the  meaning  without  any  logical  connec- 
tion: thus  kaula  means  a  rope;  but  kaula,  a  prophet. 
Further  interesting  linguistic  features  will  be  noticed 
later. 

The  earliest  history  of  the  Hawaiian  people  is  alto- 
gether like  that  of  human  beings  who  were  in  a  condi- 
tion of  savagery  or  barbarism,  when  gauged  by  our 
standards  of  culture  and  civiHsation.  Their  origin  is 
still  somewhat  obscure,  although  ethnologists  have 
been  able,  of  late  years,  to  clear  away  some  of  that 
obscurity,  as  will  be  apparent  when  the  ethnic  relations 
of  the  Hawaiians  are  discussed  in  a  later  chapter.  The 
fables  and  historical  as  well  as  sacred  mele  (there  is  no 
inflectional  distinction  between  singular  and  plural) 
or  songs  do  not  throw  much  light  on  this  subject  of 
origin,  yet  there  is  a  certain  uniformity  in  the  earliest 
traditions  and  customs,   which   the  Hawaiians  share 


EARLYHISTORY  5 

with  other  peoples  of  Oceanica,  that  points  towards  a 
common  origin. 

After  Americans  and  Europeans,  who  were  interested 
in  ethnological  studies,  and  these  were  practically  all 
Christian  (Protestant)  missionaries,  had  become  sufiEi- 
ciently  familiar  with  the  Hawaiians  to  have  learnt  the 
language,  they  found  that  the  oldest  people  declared 
there  was  originally  a  time  of  perpetual  night,  when 
"the  earth  was  without  form  and  void,"  and  all  things 
were  in  a  state  of  chaos;  that  was,  of  course,  before 
the  earth  was  created.  Of  what  there  now  is  of  the 
material  universe,  there  was  nothing;  even  the  whole 
list  of  the  gods  had  not  been  completed. 

By  the  action  of  some  of  the  gods  there  was  brought 
about  the  "state  of  Hght,"  or  the  creation,  by  a  transi- 
tion from  darkness  to  light.  "Hawaii  was  said  to 
have  been  produced  from  a  large  egg,  deposited  by  an 
immense  bird  upon  the  water,  which  bursting,  formed 
the  present  island."  From  that  first  land,  the  other 
islands  of  the  group  developed  automatically.  But 
there  is  a  suspiciously  familiar  ring  to  nearly  all  the 
traditions  dealing  with  creation,  the  birth  of  man,  and 
cognate  subjects,  which  leads  the  unprejudiced  (not 
to  say  sceptical)  observer  to  suspect  outside  influence 
long  before  the  time  of  Cook's  visit. 

The  conservative  Hawaiians  of  early  days,  in  the 
intercourse  with  strangers  that  developed  soon  after 
Cook's  "discovery,"  stoutly  held  the  opinion  that  the 
first  human  inhabitants  of  the  islands  descended  from 
the  gods,  or  were  created  by  a  miracle  upon  the  islands. 
Others,  less  tied  and  bound  to  old  superstition,  con- 


6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

tended  that  the  creation  of  man  took  place  in  another 
part  of  the  ocean,  far  away  in  the  South  Sea;  and  that 
the  first  human  beings  who  Hved  in  Hawaii  came  from 
a  long  way  off.  There  is  no  doubt  that  there  was 
formerly  frequent  communication  between  the  various 
groups  of  Pacific  islands,  even  a  very  long  time  ago. 

Tradition  and  more  substantial  evidence  point  to 
the  fact  that  the  canoes  were  larger,  better  built  and 
equipped,  and  more  seaworthy  in  the  remote  past  than 
they  have  been  for  several  centuries.  Some  of  the 
circumstances  mentioned  in  legends  make  it  not  at  all 
impossible  that  large  proas,  patterned  after  the  typical 
Malay  craft,  brought  to  Hawaii  the  first  human  in- 
habitants of  these  islands.  The  believers  in  this  origin 
of  the  populating  of  Hawaii  said  that  the  first-comers 
brought  with  them  from  Tahiti,  a  hog,  a  dog,  and  a 
pair  of  barnyard  fowls.  Before  venturing  to  land 
upon  what  was  admitted  to  have  been  an  uninviting 
coast,  and  to  take  possession  of  the  then  uninhabited 
islands,  these  people  prayed  to  the  gods  for  permission 
to  do  so,  and  their  request  was  granted. 

Later,  apparently,  a  chief  came  with  his  immediate 
family  and  settled  on  one  of  the  northern  islands, 
Kauai.  One  of  his  sons,  who  is  given  in  tradition  the 
name  of  Kamapiikai,  "a  child  running  over  the  seas," 
made  several  most  venturesome  voyages,  probably  back 
to  Tahiti  or,  possibly,  even  farther.  On  his  return  to 
Kauai  from  one  of  those  journeys,  he  reported  having 
found  a  spring  from  which  flowed  ivai-ola-loa,  "the 
water  of  enduring  life."  This  water  possessed,  so  it 
was  declared,  all  the  miraculous  powers  attributed  by 


EARLYHISTORY  7 

Ponce  de  Leon  to  the  mythical  spring,  "The  Fountain 
of  Youth,"  which  he  sought  for  throughout  Florida  in 
15 1 2,  but  in  vain.  The  Hawaiians  were  so  greatly 
impressed  by  this  tale  that  Kamapiikai,  who  is  some- 
times called  "The  Hawaiian  Columbus,"  easily  per- 
suaded enough  of  them  to  man  several  double  canoes 
to  join  him  in  another  voyage.  They  sailed  away  to 
gain  "perpetual  life"  and  were  never  heard  of  again, 
and,  if  they  did  sail,  sufiScient  reason  for  the  dis- 
appearance is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  practically 
all  the  company  were  sorely  in  need  of  the  rejuvenating 
power  of  the  miraculous  water.  Their  physical  condi- 
tion totally  unfitted  them  for  strenuous  adventure; 
because  they  were  aged  or  infirm,  deformed  or  ugly, 
maimed  or  diseased. 

Another  so-called  old  Hawaiian  legend  that  must  be 
branded  as  of  suspicious  originaHty  is  the  following: 
"A  tradition  of  the  flood  Hkewise  exists,  which  states 
that  all  the  land,  except  the  summit  of  Mauna  Kea, 
was  overflowed  by  copious  rains  and  risings  of  the 
waters.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  preserved  themselves 
in  a  laau,  a  vessel  whose  height,  length  and  breadth 
were  equal,  and  which  was  filled  with  men,  food  and 
animals.  This  laau,  after  floating  awhile,  finally  rested 
upon  Mauna  Kea.  The  waters  then  subsided  and  the 
people  went  forth  and  dwelt  in  the  land.  This  flood 
is  called  Kaiakahinalii,  the  great  deluge  of  Hinalii."* 
Mauna  Kea,  as  a  mountain,  will  be  referred  to  later; 
but  it  is  interesting  to  note  here  that  the  Hawaiian 
myth-makers  selected  the  highest  peak  of  their  country 
*  Jarves,  James  Jackson,  History  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  1872. 


8  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

—  as,  indeed,  it  is  in  the  whole  of  Oceanica  —  as  their 
Ararat.  Just  why  there  should  be  such  discrepancy 
in  the  proportions  of  the  two  "Arks"  is  inexpHcabie. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Hawaiian  tradition, 
which  represents  one  of  their  semi-divine  ancestors  as 
emulating  the  act  of  Joshua  in  commanding  the  sun 
to  stand  still,  can  have  been  evolved  without  some- 
thing of  foreign  influence.  Maui,  a  superhuman 
being  if  he  was  not  actually  a  god  and  whose  name  is 
perpetuated  in  that  of  the  second  largest  island  of  the 
group,  is  declared  to  have  stretched  forth  his  hand  to 
arrest  the  sun  in  its  course,  in  order  that  his  wife  might 
have  time  to  finish  a  certain  task  which  she  had  begun 
and  was  anxious  to  complete  before  darkness  came  on. 
The  contrast  between  Hawaiian  gallantry  and  Jewish 
military  zeal  is  refreshing. 

It  is  amusing  to  note  that  some  of  the  earliest  Ameri- 
can missionaries  found  —  at  the  time  when  they  were 
first  able  to  pursue  their  investigations  —  conclusive 
evidence,  to  their  minds,  that  the  Hawaiians  sprang 
from  the  lost  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  The  Rev.  S.  Dibble, 
in  his  History  of  the  American  Mission,  1843,  gives 
much  space  to  tracing  the  parallels  between  customs 
and  traditions  of  the  Hawaiians  and  the  ceremonies 
and  scripture  of  the  Jews.  But  then,  as  has  been  said 
by  a  witty  writer,  if  those  "lost  tribes"  were  really  the 
progenitors  of  all  the  peoples  of  this  earth  who  have 
been  traced  back  to  the  Israelites  by  somebody  or 
other,  the  word  "lost"  is  very  much  of  a  misnomer. 

It  is  well,  therefore,  to  give  careful  consideration  to 
the  probability,  which  really  amounts  almost  to  cer- 


EARLYHISTORY  9 

tainty,  that  the  Hawaiians  had  been  brought  under 
European  influence  fully  two  centuries  and  more  before 
Cook  visited  them.  It  is  practically  incontestable  that 
the  myths  and  legends,  which  the  first  American  mis- 
sionaries mistook  for  true  native  folklore  and  tales, 
were  simply  the  survival  or  revival  of  what  the  people 
had  been  told  by  former  visitors,  Europeans. 

Before  proceeding  to  mention  some  of  the  probable 
visits  of  Europeans  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  prior  to 
Cook's  era,  it  should  be  noted  that  our  lack  of  precise 
information  is  entirely  due  to  the  timidity  or  secretive- 
ness  of  the  Spaniards.  These  last  mentioned  people 
commenced  to  send  a  galleon  each  year  (at  least)  from 
Mexico  to  the  Philippines  early  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  westward  bound  vessel  carried  cargo  of 
no  very  great  value  to  Spain's  enemies  or  freebooters 
generally:  but  the  returning  ship  was  often  fully  laden 
with  the  riches  of  the  East  that  were  very  tempting 
to  rovers  of  the  sea,  and  at  that  time  there  was  not 
much  respect  shown  by  power  to  the  rights  of  property 
in  weaker  hands. 

Therefore,  if  the  Hawaiian  Islands  were  known  to 
the  Spaniards,  they  probably  suppressed  that  knowl- 
edge as  well  as  they  could,  in  order  that  open  enemies 
and  pirates  might  not  seek  shelter  amongst  them  and 
be  ready  to  pounce  upon  the  galleons  returning  to 
Mexico  from  Manila.  Yet  the  existence  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands  was  not  preserved  as  a  complete  secret, 
because  their  position  is  pretty  accurately  marked  on 
a  very  old  chart  of  the  Pacific.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  Cook  knew  of  that  chart,  and  that  in  shaping  his 


lO  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

course  from  Tahiti,  ostensibly  bound  for  the  far  north 
to  execute  that  part  of  his  orders  which  required  him 
to  study  the  west  coast  of  North  America  and  de- 
termine the  practicabiHty  of  a  passage  round  the 
northern  end  of  the  continent,  he  was  not  actually 
sailing  into  unknown  seas.  He  did  not  so  much 
"discover  the  Sandwich  Islands,"  in  the  present  sense 
of  the  word;  that  is  "to  obtain  sight  or  knowledge  of 
(something  previously  unknown)  for  the  first  time," 
as  in  the  now  obsolete  meaning,  which  was  "to  bring 
into  fuller  knowledge:  to  explore."  Cook's  statement 
that  the  natives  declared,  when  his  squadron  appeared, 
"they  had  never  been  visited  by  Europeans,"  contains 
either  a  mistake  or  a  misapprehension. 

Diego  de  Becerra  and  Hernando  de  Grijalva  sailed 
from  Mexico  in  1533,  and  described  an  island,  in  the 
South  Sea,  20°  30'  north  latitude,  and  about  100°  west 
longitude  from  Paris,  which  they  called  St.  Thomas; 
probably  Socorro  of  the  Revilla  Gigedo  group  off  the 
end  of  Lower  CaHfornia.  As  they  continued  their 
course  due  west,  there  is  reason  to  believe  they  sighted 
the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

On  the  first  day  of  November,  1542,  Juan  Gaetan 
(or  Gaetano)  and  Bertrand  della  Torre  sailed  from 
the  Puerto  de  la  Natividad,  Jalisco  Province,  Mexico. 
After  going  towards  the  westward  for  thirty  days  and 
making,  by  dead  reckoning,  nine  hundred  leagues, 
they  came  to  a  number  of  islands  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  "The  Islands  of  Kings."  They  extend  from 
the  ninth  to  the  eleventh  parallels  of  latitude  in  longi- 
tude 187°.     Twenty  leagues  farther  they  found  other 


Hawaiian   Grass  Hulm.  wn  Cu(oa\li   Gkuv) 


EARLYHISTORY  II 

islands,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  "Coral  Islands," 
latitude  io°,  longitude  182°.  Next  they  came  to 
others  which  were  covered  with  a  beautiful  green,  and 
well  planted  with  palm-trees;  therefore  these  were 
called  "The  Garden,"  latitude  9°  30',  longitude  177°. 
The  inhabitants  of  all  these  islands  appeared  to  the 
inexperienced  observers  to  be  very  much  the  same  in 
general  characteristics.  They  were  poor  people,  wear- 
ing nothing  but  a  little  rag  to  cover  their  nudity;  some 
of  the  islanders  had  fowls  Hke  those  of  Spain.  Two 
hundred  and  eighty  leagues  west,  but  in  the  same 
latitude  as  the  Coral  Islands,  they  found  a  more  pros- 
perous island  which  they  called  "The  Sailor."  The 
inhabitants  seemed  to  be  inoffensive  people  and  gave 
the  Spaniards  fish  and  cocoanuts.  Three  leagues  west 
was  the  much  larger  island  of  Arezisa,  some  twenty- 
five  leagues  in  circumference.  The  visitors  saw  many 
palm-trees,  but  did  not  land,  being  anxious  to  reach 
the  Philippines.*  Now,  while  the  longitude,  reckoned, 
as  was  the  custom  with  those  Spanish  navigators,  from 
Paris,  might  enable  us  to  locate  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
the  latitude,  which  we  should  naturally  expect  to  be 
rather  more  precise,  is  altogether  unsatisfactory.  But 
this  discrepancy  may  readily  be  accounted  for  in 
several  ways:  first,  by  the  secrecy  that  has  been 
mentioned;  second,  by  strange  miscalculation;  third, 
error  on  the  part  of  the  recorders,  either  intentional  or 
accidental.     There  is  little  doubt  but  that  Gaetano's 

*  Confr.  Collander,  John,  Terra  Auslralis  Cognita:  or  Voyages  to  the 
Terra  Australia,  or  Southern  Hemisphere,  during  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth, 
and  eighteenth  centuries.  Edinburgh,  1766,  3  vols.  Vol.  I,  p.  203, 
Article  XI. 


12  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

"Coral  Islands"  were  the  Hawaiians.  Change  the 
degrees  of  latitude  to  nineteen  and  twenty-one  and 
the  true  latitude  is  found;  while  the  distance  west 
gives  the  longitude  very  closely. 

On  the  old  chart,  already  alluded  to,  made  by  the 
captain  or  pilot  of  one  of  the  galleons  plying  between 
Mexico  and  the  Phihppines,  the  islands  La  Mesa,  Los 
Major,  and  La  Desgraciada  are  indicated  in  just  about 
the  position  of  the  Hawaiians;  and  later  visitors  gave 
to  the  high  mountain,  Mauna  Loa,  Hawaii,  the  name 
"The  Table,"  which  is  precisely  the  same  as  La  Mesa. 
That  chart  was  known  to  the  British  Admiralty  (Navy 
Department)  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  may  easily 
have  been  accessible  to  Cook. 

But  there  are  other,  accepted,  accounts  of  European 
visitors.  In  the  reign  of  King  Kahaukapu,  a  kahuna, 
priest,  appeared  at  the  northwest  point  of  Hawaii 
Island.  He  was  white  and  had  with  him  two  "idols," 
as  the  natives  called  them.  One  was  undoubtedly  a 
sacred  image;  while  the  other  was  probably  a  crucifix. 
This  happened  somewhere  between  1530  and  1600. 
Paulo,  or  as  the  Hawaiians  gave  it,  Paao,  must  have 
broken  one  of  the  vows  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priest- 
hood, for  his  son,  Opili,  succeeded  his  father  in  his 
religious  offices.  It  is  to  the  teachings  of  this  Spaniard 
that  the  striking  similarity  between  so-called  native 
legends  and  biblical  stories  must  be  traced. 

In  1620,  most  probably,  a  vessel  was  wrecked  on 
the  south  side  of  Hawaii  Island,  and  only  the  captain 
and  a  woman,  said  to  have  been  his  sister,  were  saved 
and   kindly   treated   by   the   natives.     Both   married 


EARLYHISTORY  13 

Hawaiians  and  founded  a  mixed  race  from  which  a 
number  of  chiefs  and  common  people  claim  descent. 
These  are,  to  this  day,  distinguished  from  pure  Ha- 
waiians by  features  and  complexion.  Other  verified 
cases  of  intercourse  between  Hawaiians  and  Europeans, 
as  well  as  many  which  are  more  or  less  apocryphal, 
prior  to  1778,  Cook's  date,  might  be  cited.  When 
Cook  arrived,  he  found  the  natives  had  two  pieces  of 
iron';  one  is  described  as  a  bit  of  barrel-hoop,  the  other 
was  probably  part  of  a  broadsword.  The  people  were 
said  to  be  more  anxious  to  get  iron  than  anything  else 
which  the  British  offered  in  barter.  They  called  it 
hemaite,  a  name  that  must  be  admitted  to  have  a 
strong  resemblance  to  the  Spanish  word  hematites. 

One  would  naturally  expect  to  find  in  Blair  and 
Robertson's  great  work  *  some  tolerably  full  infor- 
mation about  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  taken  from  the 
log-books  of  the  galleons  crossing  and  re-crossing 
the  Pacific.  This  is  not  the  case,  however;  and  the  rea- 
son doubtless  is  that  such  entries,  if  made,  were  struck 
out  and  the  information  suppressed.  It  is  entirely 
clear,  nevertheless,  that  the  existence  of  the  group 
was  well  known  to  Europeans;  and,  as  Mr.  Jarves 
observes,  the  great  navigator  was  too  much  addicted 
to  "a  silence  in  regard  to  the  maritime  efforts  of  his 
predecessors." 

*  The  Philippine  Islands,  I4g3-i8g8. 


CHAPTER  II 
LATER  HISTORY 

INASMUCH  as  the  death  of  Captain  Cook  may  be 
said  to  mark,  in  a  most  melancholy  way,  the 
transition  from  conditions  which  were  virtually  un- 
affected by  foreign  influence,  to  one  of  an  absolutely 
different  character,  it  is  well  to  give  some  consideration 
to  that  most  lamentable  episode.  Because,  while  it 
has  been  shown  that  the  Hawaiian  people  had  known 
Europeans  long  before  Cook  visited  them,  yet  it  was 
apparent  to  him  and  those  who  were  with  him,  as  well 
as  those  foreigners  who  promptly  followed  him,  that 
the  personal  influence  of  those  earlier  visitors  had  been 
almost  effaced;  while  the  material  effect  which  they 
had  momentarily  exerted  was  very  unimportant. 
Furthermore,  the  catastrophe  gives  an  illuminating 
idea  of  the  character  of  the  Hawaiian  people  towards 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Whatever  may 
have  been  Cook's  faults,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it 
was  through  his  efforts  the  Hawaiian  Islands  became 
properly  known  to  Americans  and  Europeans;  and 
that  from  his  visit  dates  the  development  of  the  country 
and  its  people  along  lines  which  have  already  been 
productive  of  marvellous  results,  and  which  must 
broaden  and  deepen  as  time  passes.  Still,  assuming 
that  Cook  had  not  carried  out  his  third  voyage,  Ameri- 
cans may  reasonably  say  that  if  European  whalers  had 


LATERHISTORY  15 

not  found  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  our  New  Bedford 
ships  would  have  done  so;  for  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  some  of  those  vessels  were  in  the  North  Pacific. 

There  are  several  accounts  of  Cook's  death  which, 
as  is  to  be  expected,  differ  from  one  another  in  details 
only.  Yet  even  the  most  charitable  of  these  stories 
cannot  suppress  the  fact  that  Cook's  weak  vanity  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  disaster.  In  every  narrative 
the  fact  is  made  to  appear  more  or  less  conspicuous 
that  the  English  captain,  upon  reaHsing  that  the 
ignorant  and  superstitious  Hawaiians  were  disposed 
to  attribute  to  him  godlike  qualities,  permitted  this 
gross  and  unseemly  misapprehension  to  continue.  If 
he  did  not  actually  and  openly  receive  the  homage  due 
a  divinity  (although  he  does  seem  to  have  done  so!), 
he  certainly  conducted  himself  in  a  way  that  his  critics 
loudly  condemned  and  his  friends  found  it  impossible 
to  condone. 

The  primary  cause  for  the  outburst  which  ended  in 
the  death  of  the  famous  navigator  was  punishment 
inflicted  upon  petty  thieves.  Undoubtedly  some  chas- 
tisement was  needed;  as  much  to  deter  others  as  to 
mortify  the  immediate  offenders  and  lower  them  in 
the  estimation  of  their  personal  friends.  A  desire  for 
revenge  naturally  developed,  and  Cook's  own  courage 
and  temerity  in  trying  to  suppress  this  led  to  his 
murder.  Yet  his  look  inspired  consternation  to  the 
last,  and  it  was  not  until  his  back  was  turned  that  he 
received  his  death-blow;  only  when  he  lay  a  lifeless 
corpse  did  the  superstitious  natives  come  to  see  that 
he  was,  like  themselves,  merely  a  human  being.     With 


l6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

the  complete  wreck  of  their  behef  in  the  superhumanity 
of  Cook,  came  a  loss  of  respect  for  the  rest  of  the  white 
people  who  were  with  him ;  this  was  to  have  disastrous 
results,  for  a  time. 

Cook  had  been  desperately  annoyed  by  innumerable 
attempts  at  petty  pilfering  —  too  many  of  them 
exasperatingly  successful.  One  day  a  native  had  tried 
to  steal  the  tongs  of  the  Resolution's  armourer,  but  was 
caught  in  the  act  and  flogged.  Later  in  the  same  day, 
another  took  the  same  implement  and  plunged  over- 
board. Although  followed  by  a  ship's  boat,  the  fellow 
succeeded  in  swimming  to  the  shore,  and  escaped  with 
his  prize.  That  night,  the  Resolution' s  cutter,  moored 
close  to  the  ship,  was  taken  so  quietly  that  the  theft 
was  not  discovered  until  morning.  This  made  Cook 
furious  and  he  gave  way  to  his  anger  completely.  He 
went  on  shore  to  seize  the  boat,  and  planned  to  bring 
off  the  local  king  as  a  peaceful  hostage  until  restitution 
had  been  made.  Then,  according  to  a  translation 
made  from  Hawaiian  official  papers,  which  were  pre- 
pared as  soon  as  the  natives  acquired  the  art  of  writing, 
the  captain  insisted  upon  the  king's  restoring  the 
cutter;  but  this  was  impossible  because  the  boat  had 
been  broken  up  to  get  what  iron  there  was.  Captain 
Cook  had  taken  a  party  of  armed  marines,  intending  to 
bring  the  king,  Kalaniopuu,  on  board  his  ship  and 
detain  him  until  the  boat  was  given  back  or  satis- 
factory compensation  made.  While  Cook  was  trying 
to  accompHsh  his  purpose,  Kekuhaupio  crossed  the 
bay  from  Keeia  to  Kaawaloa,  accompanied  by  KaUmu, 
another  chief,  in  a  separate  canoe.     For  some  inex- 


LATERHISTORY  I7 

plicable  reason  they  were  fired  upon  from  the  Resolution 
and  Kalimu  was  killed.  Thereupon  Kekuhaupio  rowed 
rapidly  to  Kaawaloa,  where  Cook  and  King  Kalanio- 
puu  were,  and  used  his  influence  to  dissuade  the  latter 
from  going  with  Cook;  although  the  king  appears  to 
have  been  quite  willing  to  do  so. 

When  the  people  learnt  of  KaUmu's  death,  they  cried 
out  for  revenge,  and  one  man,  with  a  short  dagger  in 
his  hand,  approached  Cook  in  a  threatening  manner. 
The  captain,  apprehensive  of  danger,  fired  his  gun  at 
the  man,  and  this  brought  on  a  general  broil.  Cook 
struck  Kalaimano-kahoowaha,  another  chief,  with  his 
sword;  whereupon  the  chief  caught  the  captain  and 
held  him,  but  with  no  thought  of  killing  him;  because 
Lono,  Cook's  title  with  the  natives,  being  a  god,  could 
not  die.  But  when  Cook  cried  out  and  was  about  to 
fall,  having  been  struck  in  the  back,  the  chief  concluded 
he  was  a  man  —  not  a  god  —  and  thereupon  killed  him. 

Then  the  foreigners  in  their  boat  fired  their  muskets, 
and  many  of  the  natives  were  killed  or  wounded,  be- 
cause the  mats  which  they  held  as  shields  against 
spears  and  arrows  were  no  protection  against  bullets. 
The  ship  also  fired  cannon  and  killed  other  natives,  so 
that  King  Kalaniopuu  fled  inland  to  the  precipice  with 
his  chiefs  and  people  taking  with  them  the  bodies  of 
Cook  and  four  marines,  who  had  been  killed  in  the 
fight. 

The  king  then  presented  the  body  of  Cook  in  sacrifice, 
and  after  the  ceremoney  was  concluded  he  had  the  flesh 
removed  from  the  bones,  to  preserve  them.  All  of  this, 
it  must  be  understood,  were  acts  of  reverence  as  to  a 


l8  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

royal  personage.  Most  of  the  flesh  was  burnt,  but 
some  of  it,  as  well  as  a  number  of  bones,  was  recovered 
by  the  English  and  given  Christian  burial;  although 
a  few  of  the  bones  were  retained  by  the  priests  for  a 
short  time,  and  worshipped  by  them  and  their  followers. 
Cook's  heart  was  eaten  by  some  children  who  said  they 
had  mistaken  it  for  that  of  a  dog;  these  culprits  were 
subsequently  severely  chastised. 

Cook's  death  of  course  terminated  the  reverence 
which  had  been  held  for  the  god  Lono,  and  the  natives 
now  appeared  in  their  true  character.  "They  endea- 
voured to  allure  small  parties  ashore,  and  insulted  the 
comrades  of  the  slain  with  the  most  contemptuous 
looks  and  gestures;  at  the  same  time  displaying  their 
clothes  and  arms  in  insolent  triumph.  A  breastwork 
was  also  erected  on  the  beach,  and  the  women  sent 
inland.  Intercourse,  however,  was  re-estabHshed,  with 
the  design  of  obtaining  the  corpse  of  Cook  and  the 
cutter.  Several  natives  came  off  from  time  to  time  to 
the  ships,  declaring  their  innocence,  and  informed  the 
commander,  Clerke,  of  the  warlike  preparations  ashore. 
Two  individuals,  on  the  night  of  the  15th  [February, 
1779],  brought  off  a  portion  of  the  flesh  of  Captain 
Cook,  weighing  nine  or  ten  pounds.  The  remainder, 
they  said,  had  been  burnt,  and  the  bones  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  chiefs.  The  next  day  additional  insults 
were  received,  and  a  man,  wearing  Cook's  hat,  had  the 
audacity  to  approach  the  ships  and  throw  stones,  in 
bravado.  The  crews  not  being  in  a  temper  for  further 
forbearance,  with  the  permission  of  their  commander, 
fired  some  of  the  great  guns  at  the  natives  on  shore. 


LATERHISTORY  I9 

The  islanders  had  previously  put  themselves  under 
cover,  so  that  not  much  damage  was  done.  A  few 
were  killed,  and  Kamehameha  [afterwards  king]  was 
sHghtly  wounded  by  a  blow  received  from  a  stone, 
which  had  been  struck  by  one  of  the  balls."* 

But  diplomacy,  consideration  on  the  part  of  Captain 
Gierke,  who  was  anxious  to  recover  as  much  as 
possible  of  Cook's  remains,  and  the  good-will  of 
some  influential  chiefs  and  priests,  overcame,  in  a 
measure,  this  unhappy  state  of  affairs.  On  the  21st 
of  February,  1779,  all  that  had  been  recovered  of 
Cook's  flesh  and  bones,  together  with  his  gun,  shoes, 
and  some  other  trifles,  were  committed  to  the  deep, 
with  military  honours.  "During  this  scene,  the  bay 
was  deserted  by  the  natives;  but  the  succeeding  day, 
on  the  assurance  that  all  ill-will  was  then  buried, 
many  visited  the  ships  and  others  sent  presents  of 
eatables.  In  the  evening  the  ships  sailed."  After  a 
few  days'  stay  at  some  of  the  other  islands,  Oahu, 
Kauai,  and  Niihau,  the  squadron  left  the  "Sandwich 
Islands"  permanently. 

With  Cook,  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  was  a  young 
midshipman,  George  Vancouver,  who,  during  the  years 
1792,  1793,  and  1794,  repeatedly  was  at  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  on  at  least  two  occasions  he  made  some- 
what long  stays.  He  was  then  in  command  of  his  own 
ship  for  an  exploring  cruise,  and  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  it  is  his  name  which  is  perpetuated  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  America  as  "Vancouver  Island"  and  the 
city  of  "Vancouver,"  British  Columbia.  His  justice 
*  Jarves,  op.  cit. 


20  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

and  benevolence  formed  a  strong  contrast  to  the  course 
of  Cook.  Either  through  his  own  ideas  of  the  rights 
of  man  or  profiting  by  the  lesson  learnt  through  Cook's 
experience,  Vancouver  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
Hawaiians  so  fully  that  on  his  last  visit  they  asked  him 
to  accept  their  submission  to  Great  Britian.  He  con- 
sented and  the  formality  of  hauHng  down  the  Hawaiian 
flag  and  raising  the  British  standard,  with  a  declaration 
of  annexation,  was  gone  through;  but  the  act  seems 
never  to  have  been  ratified.  Beyond  an  appearance 
for  a  time  of  preponderating  British  influence,  nothing 
substantial  appears  to  have  come  of  this  episode.  If 
Time  has  worked  well,  it  is  probably  fortunate  that 
Vancouver's  drama  never  got  beyond  the  first  act. 

Political  and  social  conditions  for  some  time  before 
Cook's  first  visit  had  probably  been  much  the  same  as 
they  were  when  he  arrived.  It  is  related  that  the 
Hawaiians  once  gave  offence  to  the  King  of  Tahiti, 
who,  in  revenge,  deprived  the  northern  people  of  the 
sun's  light.  Then  arose  Kana,  a  warrior  of  gigantic 
stature  and  mighty  prowess,  who  was  so  tall  that  he 
could  wade  the  ocean;  or  stand,  colossus-like,  with 
one  foot  upon  Oahu  and  the  other  upon  Kauai,  two  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  separated  by  a  strait  seventy- 
five  or  eighty  miles  wide,  Kana  walked  through  the 
sea  to  Tahiti,  where  the  maker  of  the  sun,  Kohoaalii, 
lived,  and,  braving  the  puissant  god,  compelled  him  to 
restore  the  sun  to  the  place  it  still  holds  Therefore 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  bask  in  perpetual  sunlight. 

Such  stories,  and  many  more  like  it,  give  some  idea 
of  the  mental  condition  of  the  Hawaiians,  as  well  as  of 


LATERHISTORY  21 

their  culture,  for  an  indefinite  period  prior  to  1778. 
The  verbal  accounts  of  conditions  in  the  past,  which 
the  first  foreign  students  heard  from  native  hps,  showed 
clearly  that  the  rulers  were  strongly  addicted  to  the 
sensual  and  lustful  crimes  of  heathenism,  and  found 
their  chief  amusement  in  war.  Only  one  of  the  old- 
time  kings  is  admitted  to  have  held  the  royal  power 
until  he  passed  away  through  natural  causes;  and  this 
was  properly  considered  as  a  reward  for  his  exceptional 
virtue.  Yet  with  singular  inconsistency  the  people 
seemed  to  hold  in  the  greatest  reverence  those  kings 
who  had  fairly  wallowed  in  blood. 

Puiakalani  was  another  ancient  ruler  who  seems  to 
have  tried  to  emulate  his  predecessor,  Luamuo — who 
has  just  been  mentioned  —  and  keep  peace.  But 
Puiakalani  became  disgusted  with  the  petty  broils  of 
his  subjects,  which  it  was  his  disagreeable  duty  to 
adjust.  He  put  aside  his  crown,  declaring:  "I  am  tired 
of  ruling  over  such  a  people,  and  I  will  no  longer  have 
the  care  of  them.  It  will  be  better  for  you,  my  subjects, 
to  look  after  your  own  lands  in  any  way  that  pleases 
yourselves.  I  shall  simply  take  care  of  what  is  my 
own!"  Of  course  utter  confusion  promptly  resulted; 
and  before  long  the  people  were  beseeching  Puiakalani 
to  resume  his  reign.  This  he  consented  to  do  provided 
powers  even  greater  than  he  had  before  exercised  were 
secured  to  him.  To  him  is  usually  attributed  the 
originating  of  the  feudal  system,  the  fundamental 
principle  of  which  was  that  the  whole  country  belonged 
exclusively  to  the  king. 

From  Puiakalani's  time,  all  lands  were  held  in  fief. 


22  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

The  great  increase  of  tyranny  arose  from  the  improper 
consideration  given  to  martial  performances.  The 
most  illustrious  warriors,  dreaded  because  of  their 
prowess  and  cruelty,  were  nevertheless  esteemed  as 
superior  beings,  and  sought  after  as  leaders  for  the 
petty  skirmishes  in  which  the  people  were  perpetually 
embroiled  for  the  increase  of  territory  or  the  grasping 
of  plunder.  In  this  manner,  despotic  power  soon 
became  the  inherit^-nce  of  the  warlike  chiefs.  As  for 
the  ordinary  people,  they  ceased  to  exist  except  as 
abject  serfs,  apportioned  out  with  their  lands  to  the 
favourites  and  dependents  of  each  succeeding  conqueror. 
New  and  more  rigorous  laws  were  enforced  in  their 
bearing  upon  the  husbandmen,  fishermen,  and  all 
labourers,  until  every  vestige  of  former  liberty  was 
extinguished. 

It  is  sufficient  to  give  the  merest  outline  of  the  in- 
ternal history  of  Hawaii  during  the  period  just  before 
intercourse  with  Americans  and  Europeans  properly 
began.  Each  island  had  its  own  king,  its  chiefs,  its 
clans,  its  serfs,  and  oppressed  common  people.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  note  how  the  eight  separate 
fibres  of  government,  representing  the  rulers  of  the 
eight  principal  islands,  were  eventually  twisted  to- 
gether into  one  homogeneous  strand  by  the  wisdom  and 
determination  of  one  man,  King  Kamehameha  I, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but 
space  is  not  available.  There  are  some  peculiar  institu- 
tions which  demand  attention. 

The  kingly  office  was  hereditary,  but  not  strictly  so, 
for  the  law  of  primogeniture  was  not  always  enforced. 


LATERHISTORY  23 

A  king  could  nominate  his  successor  outside  his  own 
immediate  family,  even  though  he  had  offspring  of  his 
own  who  were  apparently  ehgible.  Needless  to  say, 
in  a  polygamous  country  this  was  rarely  done.  Inas- 
much as  there  was  great  laxity  of  the  marriage  tie,  so 
that  most  frequently  it  was  impossible  for  a  boy  to 
know  positively  who  his  real  father  was,  while  it  was 
always  easy  to  define  his  maternity,  descent  in  the  fe- 
male line  was  preferred,  yet  was  not  absolute.  This 
strange  marital  laxity  was  especially  conspicuous  in  a 
monarch's  own  family.  It  was  usually  supposed  that 
the  king's  first  queen  would  be  his  faithful  wife,  although 
even  this  was  not  an  inviolable  rule.  The  subordinate 
wives,  queens  they  too  were  called,  were  almost  in- 
variably suppHed  with  a  "permanent  husband,"  who 
was  not  His  Majesty  himself.  At  stated  intervals, 
when  the  secondary  queen  sent  notice,  the  king  would 
visit  her;  the  rest  of  the  time  she  did  altogether  too 
much  as  she  pleased.  Paternity,  therefore,  was  an 
uncertain  matter. 

When  a  king,  or  even  a  chief,  had  attained  social 
superiority  by  right  of  might,  he  maintained  his  posi- 
tion effectively.  Being  strong,  personally  and  mar- 
tially, he  was  able  successfully  to  fortify  his  position 
and  become  yet  stronger.  Priests  were,  in  a  measure, 
permitted  to  share  the  privileges  of  nobility,  because  of 
their  usefulness.  To  the  bodily  fear  which  the  ruler 
exerted  was  joined  the  mental  influence  of  the  priests, 
who  worked  through  fear  and  superstition:  it  was  they 
who  put  taboo  in  force. 

The  expression  taboo,  or,  according  to  the  Hawaiian 


24  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

transformation,  kapu,  calls  for  some  explanation.  The 
word,  by  reason  of  its  usefulness,  has  become  incor- 
porated into  most  modern  languages  with  the  meaning 
of  forbidden,  rather  because  of  sentiment  than  of  per- 
sonal or  government  mandate.  Kapu  originally  meant 
"sacred."  It  implied  no  moral  quahty,  but  indicated 
a  particular  distinction,  or  separation  from  common 
purposes  for  some  special  design:  it  might  also  express 
unlimited  restriction.  Formerly,  it  was  applied  ex- 
clusively to  persons  or  things  in  a  sacred  sense,  and  was 
strictly  a  religious  ceremony  which  could  be  imposed 
only  by  priests:  later  it  came  into  common  use  in  the 
everyday  affairs  of  hfe.  In  very  ancient  times,  it  is 
said,  those  chiefs  who  pretended  to  trace  their  ancestry 
back  to  the  gods  were  called  alii  kapu,  that  is,  ''sacred 
chiefs."  A  temple,  devoted  exclusively  to  the  abode 
and  worship  of  gods,  was  wahi  kapu,  "sacred  place." 
Everything  that  was  dedicated  to  or  reserved  for  the 
exclusive  use  or  honour  of  gods,  chiefs,  or  priests  was 
kapu  for  them.  Certain  lands  and  smaller  islands  were 
more  or  less  permanently  kapu,  as  well  as  any  hunting- 
grounds,  fish,  fruit,  or  whatever  the  privileged  classes 
chose  to  reserve  for  their  exclusive  benefit.  Kapu  was 
of  two  kinds,  occasional  or  permanent.  At  times,  and 
occasionally  for  a  period  of  several  consecutive  months, 
the  priests  would  declare  particular  fish,  fruits,  vege- 
tables —  one  or  all  —  kapu  for  men  and  women.  Idols, 
of  course;  the  persons  and  names  of  kings  and  members 
of  the  royal  family;  the  persons  and  properties  of 
priests;  everything  connected  directly  or  indirectly 
with    the    gods;     religious    devotees;     bathing-places 


LATERHISTOEY  2$ 

reserved  for  chiefs  and  their  favourite  springs  of  water; 
as  well  as  everything  offered  in  sacrifice  (this  hardly 
need  be  said) :  all  these  were  strictly  kapu.  Trees  of 
which  idols  were  made  were  kapu,  as  was,  for  him- 
self, anything  an  individual  chose  as  his  particular 
object  of  worship,  although  it  might  be  fish,  fowl, 
animal,  fruit,  or  vegetable. 

In  the  time  of  earlier  intercourse  with  foreigners, 
this  magic  term  became  the  property  of  all.  An 
ordinary  citizen  could  declare  kapu  for  his  house  and 
land  with  any  particular  restrictions  he  might  choose 
to  impose,  and  all  would  respect  the  prohibition.  Any- 
thing forbidden  was  said  to  be  kapu,  and  it  is,  therefore, 
easy  to  see  how  the  term  came  into  family  use,  as  well 
as  to  understand  its  application  to  laws.  A  ship 
captain  could  declare  his  vessel  kapu,  and  no  one  would 
dare  approach  it.  Property,  when  kapu,  was  usually 
marked  by  small  white  flags,  or  some  other  conven- 
tional sign  was  employed  which  all  understood.  For 
a  long  time,  it  was  permitted  for  any  individual  to 
declare  such  kapu  as  suited  his  necessity  or  convenience, 
provided  only  that  the  restriction  did  not  infringe 
upon  the  generally  recognised  rights  of  others,  or  violate 
the  laws  of  the  kingdom. 

In  very  ancient  times,  a  rehgious  motive  had  to  be 
assigned  for  every  kapu.  But  as  the  power  of  chiefs 
increased,  kapu  was  sadly  corrupted,  although  its 
dreaded  influence  continued  to  be  as  strong  as  ever. 
Its  power  may  be  said  to  have  partaken  of  the  preter- 
natural. The  bans  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in 
the  proudest  days  of  that  hierarchy,  were  never  more 


26  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

influential,  obligatory,  or  dreaded  than  was  tafu,  taboo, 
kapu  throughout  the  wide  sphere  of  its  influence. 
Every  command  or  wish  of  a  chief,  no  matter  how 
monstrous,  was  promulgated  as  kapu,  and  his  retainers 
were  appointed  to  see  that  it  was  observed,  with 
authority  to  administer  the  most  outrageous  punish- 
ment upon  any  who  dared  to  fail  in  respect. 

Through  the  densely  superstitious  power  of  kapu, 
aided  by  the  universal  plan  of  forced  labour,  called 
hana  poalima,  the  chiefs,  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
priests,  reduced  the  common  people  to  a  servile  and 
tributary  condition.  Having  an  abundance  of  food, 
rest,  and  shelter  themselves,  "the  physical  difference 
between  the  chieftains  and  the  common  people  became 
so  marked,  that  it  caused  a  doubt  in  some  observers' 
minds  whether  the  chiefs  could  be  of  the  same  race 
with  the  plebeian  population.  The  chiefs,  male  and 
female,  attained  to  great  height,  strength,  and  size,  and 
had  in  later  life  a  strong  tendency  towards  obesity."* 

With  respect  to  the  crown,  Capt.  Charles  Wilkes  f 
says  that  in  former  times  there  were  no  fixed  laws  of 
succession,  while  the  practice  in  relation  thereto  was 
varied.  The  general  usage  was  that  the  crown  should 
descend  to  one  of  the  deceased  king's  children,  sons 
being  preferred  to  daughters,  and  the  rank  of  the 
mother  being  taken  into  consideration,  as  well  as 
priority  of  birth.  Kamehameha  I  had  children  by 
several  wives,  but  his  eldest  son,  as  well  as  an  older 

*  Hopkins,  Manley,  Hawaii:  Past,  Present,  and  Future  of  the  Island- 
Kingdom,  1869. 

t  Narrative  of  the  U.  S.  Exploring  Expedition.  During  the  years 
1838,  iSjg,  1840,  1841,  1842.     Vol.  IV. 


LATERHISTORY  27 

daughter,  were  superseded  by  the  children  of  Keopuo- 
lani,  his  "queen  from  policy,"  because  she  was  of 
higher  rank  than  Kaahumanu,  his  "queen  from  affec- 
tion," and  the  children  of  other  royal  consorts.  Yet 
Kaahumanu  was  always  Kamehameha's  favourite; 
no  one  but  her  royal  husband  presumed  to  enter  her 
presence   uncovered. 

It  was  Kamehameha  I  who,  with  some  material  and 
moral  assistance  from  foreigners,  succeeded  in  compel- 
ling all  the  other  kings  to  acknowledge  his  supremacy. 
Each  of  the  vanquished  or  persuaded  kings  continued 
to  retain  all  property  that  was  legitimately  his  own,  and 
ruled  his  former  territory  as  a  royal  governor.  Kame- 
hameha was  born  in  1736.  He  effected  the  unifica- 
tion of  his  country  in  1795  and  died  in  18 19.  Although 
he  was  a  remarkable  man  in  every  way,  and  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  desire  to  see  his  country  advance  in 
all  matters  and  in  a  manner  comparable  with  the  rest 
of  the  world,  yet  he  was  sufficiently  diplomatic  to 
bend  himself  when  he  could  not  make  others  bend  to 
him.  For  this  reason  many  of  the  institutions  of  the 
country  and  the  government  evince  traces  of  per- 
sistent superstitions  and  customs.  Social  classes, 
based  upon  the  onerous  feudal  system  of  the  past,  the 
burdensome  and  superstitious  kapu,  and  other  heathen 
practices  which  Kamehameha  realised  should  be 
obsolete,  remained  for  many  years.  Nevertheless  the 
year  1795  may  properly  be  considered  to  mark  the  close 
of  the  second  period  in  Hawaiian  history. 


CHAPTER  III 
RECENT  HISTORY 

ALTHOUGH  it  is  intended  to  devote  this  chapter 
to  the  time  from  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  until  annexation  by  the  United  States,  yet 
some  attention  must  be  given  to  a  few  important  hap- 
penings from  the  time  of  Kamehameha  I  until  that  of 
Kamehameha  IH.  Special  topics,  such  as  the  passing  of 
Hawaiian  rule,  the  establishment  of  American  adminis- 
tration, etc.,  will  receive  independent  consideration. 

It  is  not  easy  to  write  calmly  of  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  Hawaiian  government  and  people  during  the 
nineteenth  century.  When  one  reads  the  accounts  of 
both  English  and  French  writers,  it  is  difficult  to  keep 
one's  patience  with  the  many  shameless  efforts  that  were 
made  to  exploit  —  and  the  word  is  here  used  in  its 
truest  sense  as  indicating  something  manifestly  im- 
proper —  an  ignorant  lot  of  human  beings,  whose 
rulers  were  trying  their  best  to  raise  them  from  a  state 
of  barbarism  to  one  in  which  they  should  be  self- 
governing  and  worthy  of  the  respect  of  all  civilised 
peoples. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  first  impression 
made  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  in  America  and 
Europe  by  the  murder  of  Cook  was  that  the  Hawaiians 
were  bloodthirsty  savages,  and  it  would  be  well  to  leave 
them  alone.     This  feeUng  did  not,  of  course,  afi'ect  the 


RECENTHISTORY  29 

zealous  Christian  propagandists  and  many  volunteered 
for  service  in  the  "Sandwich  Islands"  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Protestant  Missionary  Societies  in 
both  England  and  the  United  States;  that  is,  as  soon 
as  the  latter  came  into  existence.  Nor  did  the  appre- 
hension of  danger  persist  long  among  mercantile  classes 
who  rightly  reasoned  that  the  islands  offered  an  attrac- 
tive field  for  enterprise. 

The  drama  —  it  is  puzzling  to  determine  whether 
it  should  be  called  farce,  comedy,  or  tragedy  —  opens 
with  the  prompt  scramble  on  the  part  of  foreigners  to 
secure  control  of  the  government  and  to  curry  favour 
with  the  king,  in  order  to  get  every  possible  benefit 
for  themselves  and  their  fellow-countrymen  without 
making  any  commensurate  return,  or,  at  the  best, 
giving  in  return  the  least  they  could  either  materially 
or  morally.  Kamehameha  I,  with  the  very  best  of 
intentions,  had  established  a  bad  precedent  by  ap- 
pointing John  Young  and  Isaac  Davis,  American  sea- 
men and  men  of  intelUgence,  some  education,  and 
admitted  probity,  his  advisers  in  matters  of  organisa- 
tion and  government.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the 
king  could  have  got  along  without  assistance  of  this 
kind;  but  had  he  delayed  the  appointments  until  he 
could  consult  with  the  American  Government,  and 
then  made  appointments  which  would  have  received 
official  support,  many  complications  would  have  been 
avoided. 

Vancouver  returned  to  Hawaii  in  1792,  or  just 
fourteen  years  after  the  first  visit  of  Cook,  and  there- 
after, during  the  years  of  his  prolonged  cruise  in  the 


30  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

North  Pacific,  he  was  several  times  at  the  islands, 
making  fairly  prolonged  stays  and  by  his  discretion 
and  kindhness  gaining  considerable  influence  over  the 
king,  the  chiefs,  and  the  common  people.  He  cautioned 
Kamehameha  I  not  to  allow  strangers  to  establish 
themselves  too  firmly,  for  he  believed  that,  until  condi- 
tions had  improved  materially  in  education  and  general 
culture,  such  outside  influence  was  likely  to  lead  to 
discord.  He  promised  that,  upon  his  return  home, 
he  would  ask  the  king  of  England  to  send  clergymen 
of  the  Church  of  England  to  instruct  the  Hawaiians  in 
the  Protestant  faith. 

Already  there  had  been  aroused  considerable  interest 
in  the  Christian  religion,  but  with  a  noticeable  aversion 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  forms  of  worship  as  savouring 
too  much  of  the  idolatry  inseparably  connected  in  the 
minds  of  the  intelligent  with  the  heathen  worship  of 
old-times,  from  which  the  king  and  all  his  best  subjects 
were  anxious  to  cut  completely  aloof.  Kamehameha 
was  much  pleased  with  this  suggestion  and  said  to 
Vancouver:  "Return  then  and  let  the  king  of  England 
take  care  of  my  country."  The  king  had  certainly 
no  thought  of  giving  up  his  domains  or  relinquishing 
his  sovereignty;  but  he  meant  simply  to  ask  for  a 
measure  of  assistance  in  protecting  his  country  against 
the  rapacity  of  other  strangers:  a  condition  of  affairs 
which  had  already  asserted  itself  most  disagreeably 
and  bade  fair  to  increase  alarmingly. 

Some  time  after  LihoHho,  as  Kamehameha  H,  had 
succeeded  Kamehameha  I  upon  the  throne,  he  decided 
to  make  a  visit  to  England  and  probably  to  the  conti- 


RECENT     HISTORY  3I 

nent  of  Europe,  as  well  as,  possibly,  to  the  United  States 
on  his  homeward  journey.  Whether  he  had  in  mind 
to  carry  out  the  idea  suggested  by  his  father  when  con- 
versing with  Vancouver,  and  try  to  secure  a  measure 
of  protection  from  the  British  government,  we  do  not 
know;  although  it  is  most  improbable  that  he  con- 
templated asking  to  have  his  country  made  a  part  of 
the  British  empire  and  placed  under  British  admin- 
istration. 

On  the  first  of  May,  1822,  Captain  Kent,  of  the 
British  Navy,  presented  to  Kamehameha  II,  in  the 
name  of  his  sovereign,  a  schooner  of  seventy  tons, 
called  Prince  Rupert.  The  craft  was  fully  rigged  and 
thoroughly  sheeted  with  copper,  and  carried  an  arma- 
ment of  six  small  guns.  This  gift  was  a  long-delayed 
fulfilment  of  a  partial  promise  made  by  Vancouver 
to  Liholiho's  father,  Kamehameha  I.  When  Kent 
returned  to  England,  Kamehameha  II,  signing  himself 
"King  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,"  sent  by  him  an 
autograph  letter,  certainly  not  written  by  himself  and 
yet  alleged  by  some  to  have  expressed  his  true  senti- 
ments, in  which  were  these  phrases:  "The  whole  of 
these  islands  having  been  conquered  by  my  father, 
I  have  succeeded  to  the  government  of  them,  and  I 
beg  leave  to  place  them  all  under  the  protection  of 
your  most  excellent  Majesty:  ...  I  hope  your  Maj- 
esty may  deem  it  fit  to  answer  this  as  soon  as  con- 
venient; and  your  Majesty's  counsel  and  advice  will 
be  most  thankfully  received  by  your  Majesty's  most 
obedient  and  devoted  servant."  This  cannot  have 
been  written  by  one  of  the  American  residents,  who 


32  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

were  then  exerting  great  influence  with  Court  and 
people.  While  this  influence  was  of  two  kinds  — 
diametrically  opposed  in  morality  —  yet  it  would  have 
been  lost  in  every  way,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  had 
the  islands  become  a  British  possession.  By  some, 
the  letter  was  construed  as  a  confirmation  of  the 
assumed  wish  of  Kamehameha  I  for  annexation:  by 
the  majority  of  careful  students  it  is  read  as  a  piece  of 
poHte  diplomatic  correspondence.  The  fact  that  it 
never  led  to  any  radical  action  tends  to  confirm  the 
latter  opinion. 

It  is  certain  that  Kamehameha  II  wished  to  broaden 
his  horizon  by  visiting  foreign  lands,  studying  their 
forms  of  government,  and  entering  into  friendly  rela- 
tions with  them.  Assuredly  he  desired  to  express 
personally  his  appreciation  of  King  George  IV's  kind- 
ness in  responding  promptly  to  Vancouver's  suggestion 
about  missionaries.  This  is  not  the  proper  place  to 
discuss  missionary  enterprises;  yet  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  first  to  arrive  came  from  the  United  States, 
in  March,  1820.  There  was,  however,  some  connec- 
tion between  Vancouver's  effort  with  King  George 
and  the  appearance  a  few  years  later  of  the  Rev. 
William  Ellis,  although  he  was  a  nonconformist,  and 
then  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Bennett  and  Tyerman,  of 
the  Established  Church  of  England. 

Kamehameha  II  entrusted  the  administration  to  a 
council  of  chiefs,  appointing  as  regent  Kaahumanu, 
queen  dowager  (his  father's  favourite  wife,  but  not 
his  own  mother,  it  will  be  remembered),  second  in 
authority  and  guardian  of  the  kingdom,  and  making 


RECENTHISTORY  33 

Kalaimoku  the  prime  minister.  This  last  mentioned 
personage  was  dubbed  "  William  Pitt"  by  the  foreigners, 
for  obvious  reasons.  He  was  born  of  a  minor  chief 
but  evinced  such  ability  that  he  eventually  filled  the 
highest  positions  and  was,  next  to  the  king,  the  most 
influential  subject  in  the  kingdom.  In  authority,  he 
was  subordinate  only  to  the  queen  dowager,  who, 
through  her  influence  over  Kamehameha  I  had  secured 
authority  equal  to  the  king's,  entirely  to  the  exclusion 
of  her  husband's  wife  "through  pohcy,"  Keopuolani, 
whose  legitimate  rights  were  certainly  superior  to  her 
own.  Yet  inasmuch  as  this  manifest  usurpation  of 
power  by  Kaahumanu  was  universally  acquiesced  in, 
it  must  have  been  considered  the  proper  exposition  of 
King  Kamehameha  I's  commands.  Kauikeouh,  the 
king's  younger  brother,  was  named  as  successor  to 
the  throne  in  the  event  of  LihoHho's  not  returning 
alive. 

Kamehameha  II  (Liholiho)  embarked  on  the  British 
ship  L'Aigle  on  November  i8,  1723,  and  on  the  27th 
of  the  same  month  the  vessel  sailed  from  Honolulu. 
A  great  concourse  of  people  assembled  at  the  harbour 
to  witness  the  departure,  and  the  farewell  chant  of  the 
queen  consort,  Kamamalu,  and  own  cousin  of  the  king, 
being  Kamehameha  I's  daughter  by  one  of  his  sub- 
ordinate wives,  was  singularly  sweet,  pathetic,  and 
almost  prophetic,  the  soft,  vocalic  Hawaiian  language 
lending  itself  most  melodiously  to  such  a  theme  and 
measure. 

After  making  a  short  stay  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  VAigle 
reached  Portsmouth,  England,  on  May  22,  1824,  and 


34  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

the  captain  landed  his  royal  passengers,  with  their 
rather  small  retinue,  but  without  making  the  smallest 
provision  for  their  entertainment.  The  owners  of  the 
vessel,  however,  notified  the  Foreign  Ofiice,  and  a 
competent  official  was  appointed  guardian  to  the  royal 
visitors.  They,  their  suites,  their  luggage,  and  the 
king's  money  chest  were  taken  to  London,  where 
suitable  quarters  were  provided  for  them  at  Osborne's 
Hotel.  Then  the  money  chest  was  sent  to  the  Bank 
of  England,  but  when  opened  it  was  found  to  contain 
only  ten  thousand  dollars  in  coin,  although  the  king's 
treasurer,  before  embarking  at  home,  had  placed  therein 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  captain 
gave  no  account  of  the  missing  fifteen  except  a  bill  for 
three  thousand  dollars,  which  represented,  so  he  said, 
the  expenses  incurred  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  is  to  be 
assumed  that  the  captain  escaped  deserved  punish- 
ment by  pleading  that  he  had  given  no  receipt  for  the 
contents  of  the  chest.  It  was  clear  to  all  interested 
that  Captain  Starbuck  and  a  worthless  French  ad- 
venturer, one  Rives,  who  had  stowed  himself  away  at 
Honolulu  and  evaded  detection  until  it  was  too  late 
to  land  him,  had  made  way  with  the  twelve  thousand 
dollars.  The  disgraceful  incident  is  mentioned  as  an 
example  of  the  many  reasons  which  the  Hawaiian 
officials  had  for  doubting  the  sincerity  of  some  of  their 
professed  European  friends. 

But  the  loss  of  a  part  of  his  funds  entailed  no  serious 
embarrassment  upon  King  Kamehameha  and  his 
suite,  for  they  were  entertained  sumptuously  as  State 
visitors    by    the    British    government.     At    first    the 


RECENT     HISTORY  35 

native  costumes  of  the  strangers  attracted  much 
attention;  but  the  tailors  and  modistes  quickly  trans- 
formed men  and  women  into  commonplace  people 
who,  save  for  their  complexion,  were  not  specially 
noticeable  in  the  crowds.  Unfortunately  the  festivities 
that  were  heaped  upon  the  royal  visitors  were  speedily 
brought  to  an  end  by  an  attack  of  measles,  to  which 
both  the  queen  and  the  king,  as  well  as  several  of  their 
suites,  easily  succumbed.  Queen  Kamamalu  died 
July  8,  1824;  King  Kamehameha  on  the  14th.  The 
day  before  he  made  a  sort  of  will,  in  which,  after  making 
provision  for  the  survivors  of  his  retinue,  he  expressed 
the  wish  that  the  bodies  of  himself  and  his  consort 
should  be  conveyed  to  their  native  Islands.  The 
remains  were  properly  encoffined  and  placed  in  a 
vault  under  the  church  of  Saint  Martin's  in  the  Fields. 
Over  each  coffin  was  thrown  a  crimson  velvet  mantle, 
having  plentiful  gilt  ornaments,  "a  kind  of  decoration 
of  death  which  so  pleased  the  Eriis  [personal  atten- 
dants], that,  on  the  arrival  of  the  bodies  at  Oahu, 
more  than  one  said  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  die  in 
England  to  have  their  bodies  so  honoured."  * 

On  September  8,  1824,  the  Blonde,  then  lying  at 
Woolwich  on  the  Thames,  now  a  borough  of  Greater 
London,  received  on  board  the  bodies  of  King  Kame- 
hameha II  and  Queen  Kamamalu.  The  frigate  then 
went  to  Portsmouth  where  the  remaining  members 
of  the  company  embarked,  and  on  the  following  day 
she  sailed  on  her  interesting  voyage.     Captain  Lord 

*  Byron,  Captain,  the  Right  Hon.  Lord,  Commander,  Voyage  of  H. 
M.  S.  Blonde  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  the  years  1824-182^. 


36  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

Byron  acted  the  part  of  host  so  admirably  and  so  kindly 
that  he  completely  won  the  hearts  of  his  passengers. 
May  3,  1825,  the  island  of  Hawaii  was  sighted,  and  on 
the  6th  the  vessel  dropped  anchor  in  Honolulu  Roads, 
the  inner  harbour  not  having  deep  enough  water  for 
such  a  large  frigate.  A  salute  of  fifteen  guns  was 
fired  and  immediately  returned  by  the  fort  in  very 
good  style.  Thus  ended  the  effort  of  Kamehameha 
II  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  his  brother- 
sovereigns  and  broaden  his  horizon. 

A  study  of  the  character  of  Liholiho  shows  us  the 
most  contradictory  traits  conspicuous  in  one  and  the 
same  individual.  Naturally  he  was  addicted  to 
dissipation  which  constantly  culminated  in  the  most 
bestial  of  drunken  and  Ucentious  orgies;  gambhng  was 
another  form  of  vice  over  which  he  did  not  often  try 
to  exercise  the  slightest  restraint.  In  grinding  exac- 
tions put  upon  his  ordinary  subjects,  he  was  at  times 
absolutely  heartless.  The  uniform  and  equalised  sys- 
tem of  taxation  which  his  father  had  established  was 
set  aside;  and  instead  of  one  taskmaster,  a  thousand 
tyrants  sprang  into  existence.  In  lavish  generosity  to 
the  sycophants  and  favourites  who  surrounded  him, 
he  was  wildly  prodigal. 

Yet  it  was  during  his  short  reign  that  the  founda- 
tions of  the  terrible  kapu  really  began  to  crumble; 
and  it  is  evident  that  Kamehameha  II  did  not  exert 
his  full  power  to  prevent  this  change.  In  a  conflict 
about  the  supreme  power,  which  arose  in  the  early 
years  of  his  reign,  this  king  seems  to  have  stood  boldly 
in  opposition  to  the  conservative  idolaters.     In  1820, 


RECENT    HISTORY  37 

to  the  annual  entertainment  given  in  honour  of  his 
deceased  father,  he  invited  the  few  Christian  mis- 
sionaries; and  at  his  personal  request  a  Christian 
blessing  was  asked  by  an  American  clergyman.  But 
on  other,  and  many,  occasions,  he  permitted  other 
foreigners  to  deport  themselves  in  his  presence  in  a 
most  outrageously  blasphemous  manner.  His  treach- 
ery to  a  rival,  Kaumualii,  chief  of  Kauai,  who  had 
first  treated  Kamehameha  II  with  the  greatest  kind- 
ness and  then  voluntarily  put  himself  entirely  in  his 
enemy's  power,  was  another  phase  of  a  contradictory 
character. 

In  March,  1825,  the  American  whaler  Almira  arrived 
and  brought  news  of  the  deaths  of  LihoHho  and  Ka- 
mamalu.  Kaahumanu,  the  regent,  and  Kalaimoku, 
prime  minister,  immediately  proposed  to  offer  prayers 
to  Almighty  God  asking  for  guidance.  They  also 
wrote  to  the  governors  of  the  different  islands,  asking 
them  (not  commanding,  let  it  be  noted)  to  unite  in 
humbhng  themselves  before  Heaven,  to  preserve  order 
among  their  people,  and  to  hold  themselves  in  readi- 
ness to  respond  to  a  summons  to  attend  a  general 
council.  The  letters  were  signed  by  Kauikeoh,  the 
designated  successor  to  the  throne,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  Kamehameha  III.  The  will  of  the  late  king  in 
regard  to  the  succession,  which  had  placed  the  kingdom 
in  trust  in  the  hands  of  Kaahumanu  and  Kalaimoku, 
for  the  young  prince,  being  clearly  understood,  was 
quietly  acquiesced  in. 

Upon  arrival  of  the  Blonde  with  the  remains  of  the 
king  and  the  queen,  there  was  a  strange  mixture  of 


38  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

Christian  rites  and  heathen  custom.  The  members  of 
the  royal  household  gave  way  to  violent  paroxysms 
of  grief  and  wrung  their  hands  violently,  while  the  air 
was  filled  with  the  clamorous  lamentations  of  the 
populace,  and  by  the  gloomy  roar  of  minute  guns! 
Presently  all  the  royal  household  walked  slowly  to  the 
home  of  the  prime  minister,  who  was  ill,  and  where 
the  conventual  mourning  was  renewed.  Thence  aU 
passed  into  the  chapel,  where  divine  services  were  held 
by  the  missionaries.  After  these,  Boku,  governor  of 
Oahu  and  brother  of  Kalamoku  and  who  had  accom- 
panied Kamehameha  II  to  England  as  his  Chamber- 
lain, made  an  address  in  which  he  recommended  the 
whole  Hawaiian  people  to  give  their  attention  to 
reHgion  and  education. 

On  the  nth  of  May,  1825,  Kamehameha  II  was 
buried  with  a  mixture  of  civihsed  customs  and  barbaric 
pomp  which  was  most  incongruous,  and  yet  it  was 
indicative  of  the  transition  that  the  people  and  govern- 
ment were  passing  through.  Religious  services,  accord- 
ing to  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England,  adapted  to 
the  pecuhar  circumstances,  were  held  in  the  church; 
afterwards  all  went  to  the  prime  minister's  residence, 
and  then  the  actual  interment  conformed  to  ancient 
custom. 

On  June  6,  the  general  council  of  the  royal  family 
and  the  chiefs  proclaimed  unanimously  the  succession 
of  the  new  king,  Kamehameha  III.  The  prime  min- 
ister spoke  of  the  defects  in  the  laws  and  customs, 
particularly  condemning  the  reversion  of  all  lands  to 
the  king  on  the  death  of  their  occupants.     To  a  certain 


RECENTHISTORY  39 

extent,  the  first  king  of  the  whole  realm,  that  is,  Kame- 
hameha  I,  had  established  hereditary  succession,  based 
upon  feudal  tenure.  This  had  made  the  common 
people  absolute  and  abject  serfs.  The  powerful 
aristocracy  which  inevitably  resulted  could  be  kept 
in  reasonable  submission  only  by  Kamehameha  I's 
strong  personality.  Kamehameha  II,  fearing  the 
feudal  lords  and  being  avaricious,  reverted  to  the  more 
ancient  custom.  All  these  conditions  were  inherently 
objectionable.  Kalamoku  proposed  that  Kameha- 
meha I's  policy  be  substantially  made  the  law  of  the 
kingdom,  and  that  the  chiefs'  land  should  be  inalienable 
in  their  families,  except  in  case  of  treason.  The  sug- 
gestion was  so  manifestly  to  the  chiefs'  advantage  that 
it  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  result  was  to 
leave,  for  a  short  time,  very  little  land  in  actual  pos- 
session of  the  Crown  and  the  common  people. 

Other  proposals  of  importance  towards  moral  condi- 
tions were  Ukewise  favoured:  among  them  were  that 
the  new  king  should  receive  a  Christian  education, 
and  be  separated  as  much  as  possible  from  those  of  his 
subjects  whose  influence  would  lead  him  towards  the 
vices  which  had  shamed  the  character  of  his  brother. 
Kapiolani,  wife  of  a  prominent  counsellor,  stated  that 
she  had  used  her  influence  to  have  laws  promulgated 
prohibiting  murder,  infanticide,  theft,  and  debauchery. 
The  former  queen,  and  regent,  Kaahumanu,  approved 
such  measures,  proposed  their  general  adoption,  and 
added  a  recommendation  that  the  people  should 
receive  a  general  education.  This  was  all  the  more 
remarkable  because  Kaahumanu's  private  life  had  not 


40  THE    COMING    HAWAII 

been  marked  by  any  unwillingness  to  indulge  to  excess 
in  the  pleasures  of  the  cup. 

The  amicable  and  progressive  meeting,  to  show  its 
appreciation  of  the  British  government's  kindness, 
gave  sites  for  a  British  consulate  and  a  consular  resi- 
dence. Charlton,  then  consul,  received  the  piece  of 
land  since  known  as  Beretane  for  his  official  residence, 
and  a  smaller  plot  near  the  old  fort  for  his  offices. 
The  fort  was  long  ago  demolished,  but  its  memory  still 
survives  in  the  name  "Fort  Street,"  Honolulu's  princi- 
pal thoroughfare.  Charlton  subsequently  made  these 
generous  gifts  the  most  fruitful  source  of  vexation  and 
injustice  to  the  chiefs.  He  and  the  British  consulate 
figured  unpleasantly  in  the  episode  of  momentary 
annexation  of  the  "Sandwich  Islands"  to  the  British 
empire. 

The  reign  of  Kamehameha  III,  1824  to  1854,  was 
marked  at  its  very  beginning  by  disorders  that  must 
almost  necessarily  be  looked  for  in  a  country  which  was 
passing  through  such  a  remarkable  change.  It  was 
not  alone  that  the  intelligent  natives  were  trying  to 
uplift  their  debased  fellows,  but  those  very  and  laud- 
able efforts  were  constantly  threatened,  and  always 
derided,  by  creatures  who  claimed  to  have  come  from 
countries  where  Christian  civilisation  was  far  advanced. 

In  1820  the  first  Protestant  missionaries  arrived. 
It  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  in  18 19  Hawaii  was  a  land 
absolutely  without  a  religion,  as  some  writers  have 
averred;  for  if  so,  how  are  we  to  account  for  some  of 
the  utterances  of  Kamehameha  I,  who  died  on  the  8th 
of  May  in  that  year?     Yet  it  is  sadly  true  that  "up 


RECENT    HISTORY  4I 

to  1820  the  outside  world  had  given  the  Hawaiians 
little  besides  trinkets,  firearms,  rum,  and  more  expert 
methods  of  deceit."  * 

To  this  shameful  list  must  be  added  syphilis,  which 
did  more  to  degrade  and  decimate  the  inhabitants  than 
even  rum.  Partly  from  sanitary  motives,  but,  let 
us  try  to  beUeve,  more  from  a  true  idea  of  morality, 
in  the  autumn  of  1825,  the  chiefs,  in  annual  assembly, 
passed  a  law  forbidding  the  traffic  in  lewdness.  A 
majority  of  all  foreigners,  irrespective  of  nationality, 
approved  of  this  measure;  but  the  violent  opposition 
of  others  was  infamous. 

As  illustrations  of  how  these  last  mentioned  lent  them- 
selves to  thwart  the  humane  efforts  of  the  native 
legislators,  these  episodes  are  illuminating.  In  October 
of  that  year,  a  British  whaleship  arrived  at  Lahaina, 
a  port  on  the  west  coast  of  Maui,  which  was  at  one 
time  the  capital  of  the  group,  where  the  law  was  in 
force.  The  Rev.  James  Richards,  an  American  mis- 
sionary, was  charged  by  the  crew  with  being  the  author 
of  the  law,  and  he  was  called  upon  most  insultingly  to 
have  it  repealed.  While  bravely  admitting  his  in- 
fluence, he  told  the  sailors  that  the  law  had  been  passed 
by  the  chiefs,  who  had  acted  in  this  respect  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law  of  God.  In  spite  of  threats  and 
attempts  at  personal  violence,  the  chiefs  upheld  their 
position  and  Richards. 

But  a  more  disgraceful  episode  was  connected  with 
a  vessel  of  the  United  States  Navy.  In  January,  1826, 
the  schooner  Dolphin,  Lieut.  John  Percival,  arrived  at 

*  Castle,  William  R.,  Jr.,  Hawaii  Past  and  Present,  1913. 


42  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Honolulu.  The  commanding  officer  expressed  disgust 
at  the  existence  of  such  a  Puritanical  statute.  He 
interested  himself,  and  with  partial  success,  in  procur- 
ing the  release  of  some  prostitutes  who  had  been 
confined  for  offences  against  this  very  attempt  to 
enforce  morality.  In  the  following  month  some  of 
those  American  naval  seamen  committed  an  attack 
upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  H.  Bingham,  another  American 
missionary.  The  chiefs  supported  Bingham,  and 
repulsed  the  sailors,  yet  one  of  them  owed  his  Hfe  to 
the  missionary's  assistance ! 

Although  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  opened  in  an 
entirely  auspicious  manner,  still  the  reign  of  Kame- 
hameha  HI  was,  on  the  whole,  marked  by  real  progress 
and  substantial  progress.  It  is  interesting  to  read 
Wilkes'  account  *  of  his  interviews  with  the  king  who 
opened  his  heart  to  the  sympathetic,  just,  and  com- 
petent auditor.  For  fourteen  years  of  Kamehameha's 
reign  the  government  continued  to  be,  what  it  had 
always  been  since  consolidation,  a  despotism.  The 
monarch's  power  was  absolute;  and,  as  is  usually  the 
case  with  such  governments,  the  chiefs  were  equally 
despotic  in  their  smaller  spheres  of  influence.  The 
Americans,  especially  the  missionaries,  exerted  con- 
siderable influence  over  the  king,  and  about  this  time 
they  began  to  persuade  him  to  give  his  subjects  a 
constitution.  Although  such  a  course  was  repugnant 
to  the  sovereign  personally,  yet  he  yielded  to  persua- 
sion. On  June  7,  1839,  he  signed  a  Bill  of  Rights; 
and  on  October  8,  1840,  he  voluntarily  gave  his  country 

*  Op.  cit. 


RECENTHISTORY  43 

a  constitution,  recognising  the  three  great  divisions  of 
a  civilised  monarchy:  the  king,  the  legislature,  and 
the  judiciary.  That  this  constitution  was  subsequently 
amended,  and  has  since  been  replaced,  are  not  of 
material  importance  here. 

During  Kamehameha  Ill's  reign,  the  land  laws 
were  so  amended  that  one-third  belonged  to  the 
king,  one-third  to  the  chiefs,  and  one-third  to  the 
common  people.  Of  his  third,  the  king  set  apart 
one-half  to  be  used  as  government  land,  the  reserved 
one-sixth  to  be  known  as  Crown  Lands.  Some  of 
the  chiefs  followed  their  sovereign's  generous  example, 
so  that  eventually  about  one-third  of  the  entire 
realty  became  government  land.  The  title  of  "fee 
simple"  was  introduced  and  at  last  actual  ownership 
of  land  became  estabhshed. 

The  independence  of  the  "Sandwich  Islands"  was 
recognised  by  the  United  States  in  1842;  by  Great 
Britain  and  France  in  1844.  Before  the  last  men- 
tioned act,  however.  Lord  George  Paulet,  commanding 
H.  B.  M.'s  Carysfort,  annexed  the  islands  to  Great 
Britain  in  February,  1844.  His  act  was  promptly 
repudiated  by  his  government  and  in  the  following 
July  Admiral  Thomas  arrived  in  his  flagship,  made 
due  apology  to  the  Hawaiian  king  and  government, 
and  with  every  appropriate  ceremony  re-raised  the 
Hawaiian  flag.  Until  1898,  save  for  a  silly  pretence 
at  occupation  by  the  French  in  1849,  the  autonomy  of 
the  kingdom  was  never  again  questioned.  Limitations 
of  space  forbid  the  discussion  of  a  serious  matter  con- 
nected with  the  effort  to  establish  the  Roman  Catholic 


44  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

mission.     Indirectly,   the   success  of   this  led   to   the 
recognition  of  entire  freedom  of  religious  belief. 

The  general  progress  of  the  kingdom  continued 
during  the  reign  of  Kamehameha  IV,  1 854-1863.  This 
was  the  period  of  predominating  British  influence. 
A  missionary  bishop  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England  was  consecrated  and  sent  to  Honolulu  to  act 
as  the  king's  chaplain.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
was  admirably  translated  into  Hawaiian  by  Kame- 
hameha himself.  This  king  died  of  a  broken  heart  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-nine,  mourning  the  loss  of  his 
only  son.  His  elder  brother  succeeded  him  as  Kame- 
hameha V,  1863-1872. 

This  enlightened  monarch  took  special  interest  in 
education  and  in  the  introduction  of  foreign  labourers. 
The  results  of  the  last  mentioned  act  were  noticeable  in 
the  enormous  development  of  the  sugar  and  rice  planta- 
tions. In  this  reign  the  leper  settlement  on  the  island 
of  Molokai  was  estabhshed.  A  line  of  steamers,  plying 
between  San  Francisco  and  Australian  and  New  Zea- 
land ports,  made  Honolulu  a  port  of  call,  thus  expand- 
ing the  importance  of  the  islands,  and  bringing  them, 
as  it  were,  within  the  circle  of  the  world's  recognised 
domains. 

Kamehameha  died  in  1872  without  having  named 
his  successor,  and  a  general  election  was  called.  Prince 
WiUiam  C.  Lunalilo,  a  grandson  of  Kamehameha  I, 
was  chosen  to  be  sovereign.  He  lived  less  than  two 
years  after  becoming  king,  and  although  he  did  name 
his  successor,  yet  he  declared  the  king  ought  to  be 
elected.     This  suggestion  was  acted  upon  and,  in  1874, 


RECENTHISTORY  45 

David  Kalakaua,  one  of  the  most  famous  hereditary 
chiefs,  was  elected.  He  was  opposed  by  Queen  Emma, 
relict  of  King  Lunalilo,  a  member  of  the  Anglican 
Church  and  supported  by  the  pro-British  party,  whose 
influence,  however,  was  then  beginning  to  wane. 

King  Kalakaua's  greatest  achievement  was  nego- 
tiating a  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United  States. 
Hawaiian  sugar  and  other  produce  were  admitted  into 
this  country  free  of  duty;  while,  in  return,  Hawaii  not 
only  remitted  the  duties  on  American  goods  but  as- 
signed permanently  Pearl  Harbour  as  a  United  States 
naval  and  coaHng  station.  Labourers  from  China, 
Japan,  and  certain  of  the  Portuguese  Atlantic  Islands 
poured  into  the  country,  many  of  them  becoming 
naturalised  Hawaiian  subjects.  This  enormous  immi- 
gration speedily  had  the  inevitable  result  of  bringing 
about  serious  class  friction.  Because  of  this,  as  well 
as  for  other  reasons  —  mainly  connected  with  the 
land  tenure  —  bloodless  revolutions  ensued  with  results 
that  were  hazardously  democratic. 

King  Kalakaua  died  at  San  Francisco  in  January, 
1891.  He  had  been  on  a  trip  round  the  world,  as  he 
declared,  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  subject  of 
still  further  importation  of  European  and  West  Indian 
labourers.  But  it  is  shrewdly  suspected  that  there 
was  a  little  royal  vanity  about  the  trip,  and  a  desire  to 
see  if  he  would  make  as  good  impression  as  his  prede- 
cessor, Liholiho,  King  Kamehameha  II.  He  was 
accorded  royal  honours  wherever  he  went,  and  by  his 
commanding  presence  and  affable  manner  made  a 
good  impression  everywhere. 


46  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Kalakaua  was  followed  by  his  sister,  Liliuokalani, 
whom  he  had  named  as  his  successor.  She  was  im- 
mediately proclaimed  and  recognised  as  Queen.  The 
principal  events  of  this  sovereign's  reign,  as  well  as  her 
own  personal  and  truly  pathetic  personal  history,  are 
intensely  interesting  subjects.  They  are  to  receive 
full  attention  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  for  there  was 
already  foreshadowed  the  passing  of  Hawaiian  rule. 


CHAPTER  IV 
MISSIONARY  EFFORTS 

THERE  can  be  no  argument  brought  in  opposition 
to  the  statement  that  prior  to  1820,  throughout 
the  isles  of  the  Pacific,  there  was  little  recognition  of  a 
superintending  Providence  and  absolutely  nothing  of 
human  justice  west  of  Cape  Horn;  that  is,  as  between 
the  ignorant,  defenceless  native  and  the  unscrupulous 
European,  doubly  armed  with  firearms  and  firewater. 
Wherever  he  went,  each  ship  master  was  a  law  unto 
himself;  from  his  tribunal  there  was  no  appeal  to  a 
court  of  justice;  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  reach 
him  for  the  punishment  that  was  so  often  his  due. 
Small  wonder  that  such  mariners  blasphemously  re- 
sented the  intrusion,  upon  what  they  had  come  to  look 
as  their  own  pecuhar  preserves,  of  those  who  taught  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man. 

This  was  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  Hawaiian 
people  until  the  year  1820.  The  well-meant  efforts 
of  two  or  three  men  like  Cook  (condoning  his  weakness), 
Vancouver,  and  Wilkes  were  less  in  results  than  is  a 
baby's  footprint  upon  the  sand  before  the  onrushing 
breakers  of  the  mighty  ocean  itself.  In  that  year 
began  the  change  which  had  to  be  slow  because  there 
was  so  much  to  undo  before  the  work  of  doing  could 
be  begun.  Let  us  take  some  pride  in  the  thought  that 
the  initiative  was  American. 


48  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

The  religious  societies  of  New  England  were  com- 
mendably  ambitious  to  gain  the  honour  of  evangelising 
the  isles  of  the  Pacific,  and  especially  the  Hawaiians. 
This  beautiful  desire  was  not,  however,  entirely  altruis- 
tic. The  shipowners  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 
many  of  them  generous  contributors  to  the  treasuries 
of  the  missionary  societies,  saw  clearly  the  immense 
advantage  which  the  harbours  and  roadsteads  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  offered  because  of  their  comparative 
nearness  to  the  new  whaling  grounds  of  the  North 
Pacific. 

The  merchants  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Boston,  with  a  spirit  of  enterprise  commensurate  wdth 
the  prospects  of  material  success,  hoped  to  make,  in 
this  connection,  immense  developments  in  commerce, 
and  it  was  manifestly  to  their  advantage  to  deal  with 
Christianised  natives  rather  than  with  lawless  savages. 
The  government  of  the  United  States,  believing  that 
the  results  of  the  recently  ended  War  of  1812  gave  it 
certain  maritime  advantages,  aspired  to  wrest  further 
and  material  advantage  from  its  rival  and  to  weaken 
Great  Britain's  poHtical  influence. 

Rehgious  enthusiasm,  commercial  interest,  political 
ambition,  and  individual  sentiment,  all  of  which  feel- 
ings had  moved  so  profoundly  the  citizens  of  the  young 
Repubhc  in  both  its  encounters  with  England,  were 
now  concentrated  upon  an  effort  which  promised  so 
glowingly  to  unite  successfully  Christian  propaganda 
and  material  advantage.  Lest  there  should  be  too 
much  tendency  to  attribute  this  praiseworthy  zeal  for 
carrying  the  Christian  religion  to  the  needy  Hawaiians 


MISSIONARY    EFFORTS  49 

entirely  to  spontaneity,  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
some  of  those  islanders  had  made  an  appeal  to  Ameri- 
cans several  years  before  the  first  mission  started  for 
the  field. 

In  the  year  1808  (probably),  two  Hawaiian  lads  — 
both  claiming  to  be  orphans  whose  parents  had  been 
killed  in  the  civil  wars  of  their  country,  and  one  of  them 
narrating  very  vividly  how  he  had  seen  his  father  and 
mother  transfixed  by  bayonets  —  persuaded  the  cap- 
tain of  an  American  trading  vessel  to  let  them  go  with 
him  to  the  United  States.  They  landed  in  New  York 
the  following  year,  and  for  a  time  were  in  imminent 
peril  of  being  completely  demoralised  spiritually  by 
the  worst  phases  of  those  quarters  of  the  great  city 
most  frequented  by  sailors  from  all  parts  of  the 
globe.  They  were  fortunately  persuaded  to  go  to 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  and  there  came  under 
totally  different  influences.  They  were  taken  in  hand 
by  competent  teachers  and  embraced  Christianity 
with  seeming  sincerity.  It  was  these  Hawaiian  lads 
who  gave  the  first  impetus  to  the  missionary  move- 
ment by  portraying  the  moral,  spiritual,  and  educa- 
tional needs  of  their  country. 

There  was  little  difficulty  in  finding  men  and  women 
willing  and  anxious  to  make  the  pioneer  move,  and  on 
October  23,  1819,  the  brig  Thaddeus  sailed  from  Boston 
having  on  board  the  first  detachment  sent  out  by  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions. 
There  seem  to  have  been  in  this  company,  bound  for 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  round  Cape  Horn,  two  ordained 
clergymen,  who  were  to  act  as  translators  (the  rudi- 


50  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

ments  of  the  language  which  they  had  acquired  from 
some  of  the  few  Hawaiians  then  in  the  eastern  part  of 
this  country,  to  be  supplemented  by  prompt  and 
assiduous  study  on  reaching  their  destination);  a 
physician;  two  school  teachers,  who  were  also  to  be 
catechists;  a  printer  (it  being  the  intention  to  romanise 
the  Hawaiian  language  from  the  outset) ;  and  a  farmer. 
These  seven  were  accompanied  by  their  wives,  and  all 
of  them,  men  and  women  ahke,  were  to  be  Christian 
missionaries.  In  one  family  there  were,  besides  the 
adults,  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
There  were  also  three  native  Hawaiian  converts  who 
were  returning  filled  with  zeal  in  the  cause  of  advancing 
their  country  along  lines  of  Christian  civilisation. 

The  idea  of  letting  American  women  and  children 
join  this  pioneer  band  was  extremely  repulsive  to  many 
who  were  heartily  in  sympathy  \vith  the  evangeHstic 
movement.  To  these  it  seemed  unwise  and  unneces- 
sary to  subject  delicate  and  refined  ladies,  as  well  as 
ingenuous  girls  and  boys,  to  the  hardships  of  life  in  a 
strange  land,  amidst  uncongenial  surroundings,  and 
amongst  cruel  savages.  These  feelings  arose  from  an 
entire  misapprehension  of  conditions,  based,  of  course, 
upon  the  accounts  given  of  Cook's  murder  and  without 
just  consideration  being  given  to  the  later  accounts  of 
Vancouver  and  others  who,  even  then,  had  a  good 
word  to  say  for  the  Hawaiians.  Inherently,  there  was, 
from  the  beginning  of  real  and  continuous  intercourse 
with  strangers,  nothing  in  the  Hawaiian  character 
which  justified  apprehension  that  the  natives  might 
assault  the  foreign  women  or  offer  them  gratuitous 


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MISSIONARY     EFFORTS  51 

insult.  True,  the  islanders  were  naturally  somewhat 
quick-tempered,  and  when  their  anger  was  aroused 
they  were  extremely  unpleasant  customers  to  deal 
with;  but  the  missionaries  soon  found  they  had  less  to 
fear  from  the  natives  than  from  the  dissolute  foreigners 
who  were  so  numerous  at  Honolulu  and  other  ports. 
As  for  physical  conditions,  there  never  was  any  cause 
for  apprehension.  The  climate  was  mild,  equable, 
and  salubrious,  and  the  means  for  sustaining  life  most 
pleasantly  were  readily  procurable. 

On  April  4,  1820,  the  Thaddeus  anchored  in  the 
roadstead  of  Kailua,  on  the  west  coast  of  the  island  of 
Hawaii.  The  passengers  were  then,  for  the  first  time, 
apprised  of  the  death  of  Kamehameha  I,  and  the 
elevation  to  the  throne  of  his  son,  Liholiho.  This  was 
discouraging  news,  and  just  here  it  is  well  to  revert 
for  a  moment  to  the  statement  that  Hawaii,  in  the  year 
1820,  was  a  country  without  religion.  In  1809,  ten 
years  before  the  death  of  Kamehameha  I,  the  young 
prince,  LihoHho,  had  been  invested  with  royal  honours, 
in  order  to  ensure  a  quiet  and  uninterrupted  succession. 
This  was  done  with  the  approval  of  the  chiefs  and  it 
worked  for  good.  Liholiho  was  of  a  very  different 
character  from  his  father. 

Naturally  his  disposition  was  usually  frank;  generally 
he  was  humane,  although  at  times  he  was  fiendishly 
avaricious  and  brutal.  Always  he  was  indolent  and 
devoted  to  pleasure,  but  his  taste  found  its  satisfaction 
in  pleasures  of  the  lowest  kinds.  During  his  father's 
Ufe,  that  monarch's  forceful  character  left  the  heir 
apparent  nothing  to  do  in  carrying  on  the  State.     It 


52  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

was  therefore  scarcely  surprising  that  he  lived  a  sense- 
lessly stupid,  dissipated  existence;  and  it  would  be 
equally  astonishing  had  he  suddenly  reformed  upon 
succeeding  to  the  throne. 

In  a  certain  way  he  rather  leaned  towards  something 
akin  to  the  religious  faith  of  the  foreigners  who  were 
around  him;  yet  at  other  times  he  held  loyally  to  the 
rehgion  in  which  he,  his  ancestors,  and  all  the  people 
from  time  immemorial  had  believed.  It  is  certain  that 
by  his  example  he  ensured  the  death-blow  to  the  kapu. 

If  there  were  almost  none  of  the  Americans  and 
Europeans  who  set  a  good  example  of  Christianity, 
still  at  times  this  was  not  so.  Even  their  very  pro- 
fanity and  blasphemy  brought  to  the  natives  ideas 
that  were  strange  and  possessing.  Who  or  what  was 
this  God  whose  name  was  so  often  on  the  strangers' 
lips?  What  was  the  real  meaning  of  the  ridicule  they 
heaped  upon  what  seemed  to  be  prayer  and  devotion? 
The  sparks  left  by  Vancouver  had  smouldered  long, 
but  they  were  now  ready  to  burst  forth  into  flame; 
and  there  was  about  to  happen  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
a  miracle  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  whole  people  were  about  to  destroy  their  idols: 
even  some  of  the  priests  were  to  concur  in  and  assist  at 
the  demohtions.  "This  spontaneous  movement  was 
no  triumph  of  Christianity,  —  for  Christianity  had  not 
yet  claimed  or  even  approached  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
It  was  no  reformation  of  a  religious  system,  for  it  was 
its  total  overthrow  and  abolition.  The  mountains  were 
being  made  low,  —  but  as  yet  no  voice  was  heard 
crying  in  the  wilderness,  'prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 


MISSIONARY     EFFORTS  53 

Lord.'  The  thin  and  torn  but  accustomed  garment 
of  paganism  was  to  be  thrown  violently  away;  and 
those  who  had  worn  it  were  to  remain,  not  'clothed 
upon,'  but  left  naked  and  shivering  in  absolute  athe- 
ism." *  The  quotation  is  given  to  show  the  opinion 
of  one  who,  but  a  comparatively  few  years  after  1820 
and  with  excellent  opportunities  for  observation,  wrote 
honestly.  Nevertheless,  in  the  light  of  later  events 
and  with  a  wider  perspective,  there  were  many  who 
saw  in  the  religious  phenomenon  which  took  place  in 
Hawaii  the  hand  of  the  Lord.  All  that  Hopkins  says 
is  doubtless  true  as  to  those  Hawaiians  who  had  come 
into  contact  with  the  strangers:  yet  in  the  remoter 
places  there  yet  remained  the  rehgion  which  is  to  be 
considered  in  the  next  chapter. 

If  there  was  not,  then,  a  general  religious  system 
ruling  all  the  Hawaiians  in  1820,  there  was  certainly 
the  influence  thereof  amongst  many  of  the  people,  and 
that  there  was  work  for  the  newly  arrived  teachers  of 
Christianity  to  do  became  apparent  from  the  very 
first  moment;  not  only  in  uprooting  paganism  but  in 
implanting  the  seeds  of  Christianity.  The  prime 
minister,  Kaliamoku,  accompanying  the  two  dowager 
queens,  Kaahumanu  and  Keopuolani,  made  an  official 
call  upon  the  Americans,  still  on  board  the  Thaddeus, 
having  previously  received  the  strangers  in  audience 
on  shore. 

With  them  was  a  truly  remarkable  man,  Hewahewa, 
the  ex-high-priest.  It  was  he  who  resigned  an  office 
of  immense  influence  and  rich  emolument,  —  one  which 

*  Hopkins,  op.  cit. 


54  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

gave  him  a  place  next  to  the  very  king  himself  in 
dignity  and  reverence,  —  and  with  his  own  hands 
began  the  work  of  demolishing  idols  and  burning 
temples.  To  the  Christian  missionaries  he  said:  "I 
knew  that  the  wooden  images  of  our  deities,  carved  by 
our  own  hands,  were  incapable  of  supplying  our  spiritual 
and  physical  wants;  but  I  worshipped  them,  because 
it  was  the  custom  of  our  fathers.  My  thoughts  have 
always  been,  that  there  is  only  one  great  God,  dwelling 
in  the  heavens."  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  this 
conviction  was  a  purely  personal  matter.  If  we  accept 
it  as  such,  then  we  must  say  that  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
were  another  instance  of  spontaneous  monotheism. 
This  has  never  been  contended  and  the  inference  is 
unavoidable  that  some  influence  of  earlier  Christian 
teaching  reappeared  in  the  case  of  the  high-priest. 

These  pioneer  American  missionaries  were  naturally 
disposed  to  be  over-elated  by  the  first  report  brought 
to  them  by  the  messengers  they  sent  ashore  immediately 
upon  dropping  anchor  at  Kailua.  It  was  that  Kame- 
hameha  was  dead,  his  son,  LihoHho,  was  king,  the 
kapu  was  aboHshed,  the  idols  destroyed,  the  heiau 
(temples)  for  idolatrous  worship  burnt  or  otherwise 
demolished,  and  the  insurrectionary  party,  that  had 
attempted  by  force  of  arms  to  restore  the  idolatrous 
worship,  had  been  completely  vanquished  by  the 
royalists.  The  field  had  not  been  so  completely  cleared 
of  tares  as  the  over-sanguine  propagandists  supposed. 

Let  us  sympathize  with  the  display  of  feeling  which 
seems  to  have  taken  possession  of  these  American 
missionaries  upon  first  seeing  the  Hawaiian  common 


MISSIONARY     EFFORTS  55 

people.  They  found  conditions  of  disease  which  threat- 
ened the  extinction  of  those  they  came  to  serve,  while 
epidemics  of  measles  and  smallpox,  introduced  by 
sailors,  carried  off  thousands  of  the  inhabitants. 

When  the  missionaries  presented  their  plans  to  King 
Kamehameha  II,  they  made  the  offer  of  the  Gospel  of 
eternal  life,  and  offered  to  teach  the  Hawaiians  of  all 
classes,  from  the  king  himself  down  to  the  humblest 
serf,  the  Word  of  God.  Complimentary  messages 
from  the  Mission  Board  were  communicated,  and  per- 
mission was  asked  to  settle  in  the  country  in  order  to 
teach  Christianity,  impart  general  education,  and  to 
give  instruction  in  some  of  the  useful  arts  of  America. 

The  king's  hesitation  in  giving  his  consent  was  but 
natural.  He  had  recently  aboHshed  the  public  rites 
of  the  ancient  religion,  and  the  immediate  consequence 
of  this  act  was  an  insurrection  which  was  subdued  with 
some  difficulty.  He  could  not  know  that  converts  to 
the  new  religion  would  not  be  equally  troublesome. 
A  diplomatic  blunder  was  committed  unwittingly  at 
the  very  outset  of  negotiations.  Not  knowing  the 
standing  and  enormous  influence  of  Kaahumanu, 
Kamehameha  I's  "wife  from  affection,"  the  ambassa- 
dors for  the  new  religion  neglected  to  secure  her  good 
offices.     This  mistake  was  promptly  rectified. 

Eventually  all  obstacles  were  so  far  overcome  that 
permission  was  given  for  a  part  of  the  mission  to  remain 
on  Hawaii  Island,  and  the  rest  to  go  to  Oahu,  and  to 
prosecute  their  work  tentatively  for  one  year,  during 
which  period  there  were  to  be  no  additions  to  their 
number  by  further  arrivals  from  the  United  States. 


56  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

One  of  the  obstacles,  which  appears  now  to  have  been 
given  undue  importance  at  that  time,  was  the  alleged 
objection  of  Britons.  Undoubtedly  the  Hawaiian 
government  was  desirous  of  maintaining  friendly 
relations  with  Great  Britain  —  that  is  to  have  been 
expected  —  and  the  statement  that  the  EngHshman  (?) 
John  Young,  then  a  person  of  much  importance  and 
Governor  of  Hawaii  by  appointment  from  Kame- 
hameha  I,  interfered  to  balk  the  American  missionaries, 
may  be  doubted.  In  fact  it  may  safely  be  assumed 
that  if  Young  had  not  assured  Kamehameha  II  the 
Americans  were  to  teach  precisely  the  same  reUgion  as 
would  those  whom  Vancouver  had  promised,  the 
Americans  would  not  have  secured  the  permission  they 
did  receive.  At  any  rate  the  establishment  of  the 
first  Christian  mission  in  Hawaii  was  accomplished  on 
April  12,  1820. 

The  first  habitation  assigned  to  those  foreigners  was 
not  an  attractive  place.  Bingham,  the  historiographer 
of  the  mission,  thus  describes  it:  ''A  small  thatched 
hut  was  by  the  king's  order  appropriated  for  their 
accommodation,  if  such  a  frail  hut,  three  and  one-half 
feet  high  at  the  foot  of  the  rafters,  without  flooring, 
ceiling,  windows,  or  furniture,  infested  with  vermin, 
in  the  midst  of  a  noisy,  filthy,  heathen  village,  can  be 
said  to  be  for  the  accommodation  of  two  families  just 
exiled  from  one  of  the  happiest  countries  in  the  world."  * 

Without  intending  to  impugn  the  sincerity  of  those 
first  missionaries  or  to  belittle  their  hardships,  it  is  but 

*  Bingham,  Hiram,  A  Residence  of  Twenly-five  Years  hi  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  1848. 


MISSIONARY     EFFORTS  57 

right  to  say  that  this  description  of  "home"  held  good 
for  but  a  short  time.  Then  the  missionary  establish- 
ments, through  the  generosity  of  boards,  the  kindness 
of  natives,  and  the  enormous  power  of  a  little  ready 
money,*  began  to  spread  out  until  it  was  but  a  short 
time  when  "a  missionary's  house"  often  meant  a  neat 
wooden  house  of  approved  New  England  style  even  if 
small. t  Most  certainly  the  missionaries  were  entitled 
to  be  comfortable. 

The  pioneers  did  admirable  work,  and  so  did  the 
other  Protestant  missionaries  who  quickly  followed. 
In  April,  182 1,  the  first  building  for  the  services  of 
Christianity  was  erected  and  consecrated  at  Honolulu: 
it  was  a  small,  thatched  edifice.  In  January  of  the 
following  year  the  first  experiment  in  printing  was  made 
and  aroused  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  King  Kame- 
hameha  II  and  the  Dowager  Queen  Kaahumanu, 
most  of  the  Cabinet  and  Court  officials,  as  well  as 
others  of  less  note,  with  as  many  of  the  common  people 
as  could  secure  the  privilege,  took  up  the  study  of 
reading,  so  that  in  about  eight  months'  time  fully  five 
hundred  pupils  (most  of  them  adults)  were  receiving 
instruction. 

In  April,  1822,  the  first  detachment  of  English  mis- 
sionaries arrived,  and  from  that  time  the  education 
and  evangelisation  of  the  Hawaiians  went  on  apace. 
From  being  tolerated  on  sufferance,  the  missionaries 
soon  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  indispensable.  To 
them  the  chiefs  turned  for  advice  in  secular  matters, 

*  Missionaries'  salaries  for  many  years  were  limited  to  $450  or  $500. 
t  Hawaiian  Yesterdays,  by  Henry  M.  Lyman,  M.D. 


58  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

if  not  always  for  religious  instruction  and  they  came 
to  wield  enormous  influence. 

In  less  than  forty  years,  the  missionaries  taught 
practically  the  whole  people  to  read  and  write,  to 
cipher,  to  sew.  They  gave  them  an  alphabet,  a  gram- 
mar, and  a  dictionary,  thus  preserving  the  language 
from  extinction.  They  gave  the  Hawaiians  a  literature, 
and  translated  into  it  the  Bible  and  works  of  devotion, 
as  well  as  those  of  science,  entertainment,  etc.  They 
estabhshed  schools,  trained  native  teachers,  and  so 
prosecuted  the  work  that  the  proportion  of  those  who 
could  read  and  write  soon  exceeded  that  of  our  own 
New  England  states.  In  community  and  home  circles, 
they  uplifted  the  people  to  a  plane  of  morality  justly 
comparable  with  that  of  any  other  land. 


CHAPTER   V 
FORMER  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

THE  custom  of  living  in  villages  seems  to  have 
been  followed  from  a  very  indefinite  past,  even 
when  Cook  first  visited  the  islands.  Indeed,  there 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  such  thing  as  an 
isolated  homestead,  and  the  condition  of  society  would 
seem  to  make  that  an  impossibility.  Yet  there  was  no 
indication  of  defence  or  fortifications  for  these  village 
communities,  which  tends  to  raise  our  opinion  of  the 
general  peacefulness  of  the  islanders.  This  certainly 
was  a  characteristic  of  the  common  people,  and  the 
wars  which  were  described  by  all  the  early  recorders 
were  stimulated  by  the  greed  of  chiefs.  The  governing 
of  those  villages  seems  to  have  been  thoroughly  com- 
munal. If  the  demands  of  the  feudal  chief  were  com- 
plied with  to  his  satisfaction,  each  household  was  left 
to  govern  itself;  there  was  no  village-chief  or  headman. 
The  group  of  islands  was,  in  ancient  times,  unques- 
tionably a  congeries  of  the  most  rigorous  and  incon- 
siderate despotisms.  Over  each  of  the  islands  there 
was  at  least  one  king,  and  it  may  very  safely  be  assumed 
that  on  the  larger  ones  —  Hawaii  Island,  for  example 
—  there  were  frequently  two  or  more  of  the  petty 
despots.  These  ruled  in  peace,  each  over  his  own 
domains,  until  the  cupidity  of  his  neighbour  brought 
on  a  war  of  expansion  and  expropriation,  if  it  stopped 


6o  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

short  of  extermination,  so  far  as  the  rulers  were  con- 
cerned. 

Cook  himself  did  not  see  a  chief  of  any  note  during 
his  first  short  visit,  although  he  was  told  of  several  on 
the  island  of  Kauai.  After  he  left  that  island,  one  of 
these  great  men  made  his  appearance  and  paid  a  visit 
to  Captain  Clerke  on  board  the  Discovery.  "He  came 
off  in  a  double  canoe,  and,  like  the  King  of  the  Friendly 
Islands,  paid  no  regard  to  the  small  canoes  that  hap- 
pened to  be  in  his  way,  but  ran  against,  or  over  them, 
without  endeavouring  in  the  least  to  avoid  them.  And 
it  was  not  possible  for  these  poor  people  to  avoid  him, 
for  they  could  not  manage  their  canoes,  it  being  a 
necessary  mark  of  their  submission  that  they  should 
lie  down  [that  is,  prostrate  themselves  as  to  a  god] 
till  he  passed."  The  bodyguard  of  this  distinguished 
potentate  formed  a  circle  about  him,  holding  each 
other's  hands,  and  would  permit  no  one  to  come  near 
him  save  Clerke  himself. 

In  such  a  state  of  government  as  it  must  be  assumed 
existed  in  Hawaii  prior  to  the  time  of  Cook's  visit, 
1778,  and  from  what  later  observers  were  able  to 
gather  from  the  Hps  of  old  people  and  professional 
story-tellers,  when  Europeans  had  mastered  the 
language,  it  is  evident  that  the  common  people  were 
little  better  than  the  slaves  of  the  cruellest  country  we 
know.  There  were,  too,  many  brutal  customs  which 
all  describe:  such  as  the  burying  alive  of  human  beings 
near  the  tomb  of  a  chief.  This  custom  continued  until 
the  death  of  Kamehameha  I,  and  it  was  only  at  his 
express  command  that  for  this  cruel  human  sacrifice 


FORMER     SOCIAL     CONDITIONS        6l 

there  was  substituted  one  of  dogs.  In  after  times  all 
such  heathenish  rites  were  discontinued. 

After  Kamehameha  I  had  brought  the  entire  archi- 
pelago under  his  personal  rule,  the  government  speedily 
assumed  the  worst  form  of  feudahsm,  and  so  continued 
during  the  reign  of  several  succeeding  kings.  How  this 
was  accompHshed  has  already  been  indicated.  This 
system  inevitably  brought  about  most  invidious  class 
distinctions.  The  king  and  the  royal  family;  the  high- 
priest  and  a  very  few  of  his  favoured  associates  (al- 
though all  priests  were  superstitiously  considered  of 
some  superiority);  the  governors  of  the  separate 
islands  and  the  feudal  chiefs  —  these  composed  the 
strata  of  the  feudal  system.  Although  there  were 
several  features  of  Hawaiian  poHty  and  custom  which 
remind  us  of  conditions  in  Japan,  there  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  any  distinct  warrior  class  like  the  samurai 
of  the  last-mentioned  country.  When  the  time  for 
giving  battle  came,  each  chief  summoned  all  his  able- 
bodied  male  serfs,  and  they  constituted  the  army;  while 
there  is  abundant  evidence  of  Amazons  who  did  valiant 
work! 

It  must  not  too  easily  provoke  a  smile  of  contempt 
to  read  that  much  of  the  information  we  possess  about 
the  former  government  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  came 
from  the  lips  of  story-tellers.  The  introduction  of  the 
art  of  printing,  with  the  inevitable  newspaper  to  dis- 
seminate information;  the  crystallising  of  the  language 
into  permanent  form;  and  the  various  cognate  ad- 
vances which  have  already  been  mentioned,  did  much 
to  cause  the  disappearance  of  oral  traditions.     But  the 


62  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

earliest  American  missionaries  found  it  well  to  collect 
and  preserve  as  much  as  possible  of  that  prescriptive 
history  of  the  country.  When  the  Rev.  Mr.  WilHam 
Ellis  visited  the  islands  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century,*  he  found  that  the  native  bards 
were  able  to  give  an  account  of  a  dynastic  hne  which 
included  some  seventy  kings.  Of  the  thirty-five  whose 
reigns  came  immediately  before  the  advent  of  Euro- 
peans, the  accounts  which  the  various  bards  and  story- 
tellers gave  were  so  perfectly  in  accord  as  to  give  them 
an  accepted  stamp  of  authenticity. 

Cook  described  the  Hawaiians  as  being  blest  with 
a  frank,  cheerful  disposition.  He  considered  them 
equally  free  from  the  fickle  levity  which  disagreeably 
distinguished  the  natives  of  Tahiti,  and  the  sedate  cast 
observable  amongst  the  people  of  Tonga,  or  Amsterdam 
Island.  They  seemed  to  this  early  visitor  to  live  very 
sociably  in  their  intercourse  with  one  another;  and 
this  trait,  developed  into  a  passion  for  the  amusements 
of  social  gatherings,  has  been  the  theme  of  every  writer. 
Except  for  the  propensity  for  stealing  anything  and 
everything  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  a  weakness 
which  seemed  to  be  innate  with  all  the  Pacific  islanders, 
Cook  at  first  considered  that  they  were  quite  friendly 
to  strangers.  It  is  but  fair  to  such  ingenuous  people 
as  the  Hawaiians  were  when  Cook  made  their  ac- 
quaintance to  say  that  the  tendency  to  take  things 
which  did  not  belong  to  them  was  hardly  to  be  stig- 
matised as  "stealing."  In  common  with  most  simple, 
unsophisticated   people,    they   seemed   to   think   that 

*  Tour  through  Hawaii,  1826. 


FORMER     SOCIAL     CONDITIONS        63 

anything  which  they  could  take  might  with  perfect 
propriety  be  appropriated  to  their  own  use  and  benefit. 
Cook  himself  says  that  when  he  and  his  companions 
succeeding  in  explaining  that  this  appropriation  was  im- 
proper, there  was  a  fairly  reasonable  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  natives  to  respect  the  rights  of  ownership; 
although  Cook,  later  visitors  (the  most  charitably 
disposed  missionaries  among  them),  and  even  strangers 
at  the  present  time  are  agreed  in  attributing  to  the 
lower  classes  of  Hawaiians  an  unpleasant  tendency  to 
pilfer  which  often  causes  most  unnecessary  annoyance 
in  addition  to  the  actual  loss. 

Cook's  description  of  the  Hawaiians  as  being  vigor- 
ous, active,  and  most  expert  swimmers  is  perfectly 
endorsed  by  every  observer.  "It  was  very  common 
to  see  women,  with  infants  at  the  breast,  when  the 
surf  was  so  high  that  they  could  not  land  in  canoes, 
leap  overboard  and  without  endangering  the  little 
ones  swim  to  the  shore  through  a  sea  that  looked  dread- 
ful." This  almost  amphibious  habit,  still  conspicuous, 
will  receive  attention  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  dress  of  these  people  was  usually  very  scanty; 
although  not  any  more  so  than  is  common  with  natives 
of  the  tropics  all  round  the  world.  The  men  as  a 
rule  were  satisfied  with  a  loin  cloth,  marOy  made  from 
the  fibre  of  the  paper  mulberry,  plantations  of  which 
trees  —  set  out  in  regular  rows  and  carefully  tended 
—  were  numerous.  The  women  used  larger  pieces  of 
the  same  cloth  wound  around  the  body  and  reaching 
from  just  below  the  breasts  to  the  middle  of  the  thighs. 
Frequently  the  women  added  another  piece,  thrown 


64  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

loosely  over  the  shoulders  and  covering  pretty  much 
all  of  the  torso.  The  chiefs  never  appeared  in  public 
without  being  more  or  less  gorgeously  robed. 

But  a  certain  cloak  or  cape,  and  its  complementary 
head-covering,  deserve  to  be  specially  remembered, 
because  they  were  a  conspicuous  feature  of  social  and 
class  distinction.  Cook's  description  is  not  only  the 
first  but,  all  things  considered,  the  most  satisfac- 
tory. "Amongst  the  articles  which  they  brought  to 
barter  this  day,  we  could  not  help  taking  notice  of  a 
particular  sort  of  cloak  and  cap,  which  —  even  in 
countries  where  dress  is  more  particularly  attended  to 

—  might  be  reckoned  elegant.  The  first  are  nearly  of 
the  size  and  shape  of  the  short  cloaks  worn  by  women 
in  England  and  by  men  in  Spain,  reaching  to  the  middle 
of  the  back  and  tied  loosely  before.  The  ground  of 
them  is  a  network  upon  which  the  most  beautiful  red 
and  yellow  feathers  are  so  closely  fixed,  that  the  surface 
might  be  compared  to  the  thickest  and  richest  velvet, 
which  they  resemble  both  as  to  feel  and  the  glossy 
appearance.  The  manner  of  varying  the  mixture  is 
very  different;  some  having  triangular  spaces  of  red 
and  yellow  alternately;  others  a  kind  of  crescent; 
and  some  that  were  entirely  red,  had  a  broad  yellow 
border  which  made  them  appear  —  at  some  distance 

—  exactly  like  a  scarlet  cloak  edged  with  gold  lace. 
The  brilliant  colours  of  the  feathers,  in  those  which 
happened  to  be  new,  added  not  a  little  to  their  fine 
appearance;  and  we  found  that  they  were  in  high  esti- 
mation with  their  owners,  for  they  would  not,  at  first, 
part  with  them  for  anything  that  we  offered,  asking 


FORMER     SOCIAL     CONDITIONS        65 

no  less  a  price  than  a  mosquet.  However,  some  were 
afterwards  purchased  for  very  large  nails.  Such  of 
them  as  were  of  the  best  sort,  were  scarce;  and  it 
would  seem  that  they  were  used  only  on  occasion  of 
some  particular  ceremony  or  diversion;  for  the  people 
who  had  them  always  made  some  gesticulations  which 
we  had  seen  used  before  by  those  who  sang. 

''The  cap  is  made  almost  exactly  like  a  helmet,  with 
the  middle  part,  or  crest,  sometimes  a  hand's  breadth: 
and  it  sits  very  close  to  the  head,  having  notches  to 
admit  the  ears.  It  is  a  frame  of  twigs  and  osiers, 
covered  with  a  network  into  which  are  wrought  feathers, 
in  the  same  manner  as  upon  the  cloaks,  though  rather 
closer,  and  less  diversified;  the  greater  part  being  red, 
with  some  black,  yellow,  or  green  stripes,  on  the  sides, 
following  the  curve  direction  of  the  crest.  These, 
probably,  complete  the  dress,  with  the  cloaks;  for  the 
natives,  sometimes,  appeared  in  both  together." 

One  of  the  scientists  of  the  Cook  expedition  judged 
the  birds  which  supplied  these  feathers  to  be  a  species  of 
merops,  about  the  size  of  a  sparrow,  with  a  Hthe  and 
slender  body,  somewhat  like  that  of  a  swallow  which 
it  also  resembles  in  its  mode  of  flight.  To  intrude  a 
little  personaHty,  I  may  say  that  when  I  first  visited 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  in  1866,  the  day  our  ship  reached 
Honolulu  was  the  birthday  of  King  Kamehameha  V, 
and  the  whole  town  was  en  fete.  Some  of  these  feather 
costumes  were  to  be  seen  in  the  crowds;  but  inasmuch 
as  none  of  them  appeared  to  be  actually  or  even  re- 
motely new,  it  was  a  reasonable  assumption  that  their 
manufacture  had  already  become  "a  lost  art."     The 


66  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

legend,  that  one  of  the  robes  of  state  worn  by  the  king 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  was  made  of  feathers,  but  a 
single  one  to  be  had  from  a  single  bird,  must  be  taken 
somewhat  cautiously. 

If  a  full  account  of  the  ancient  rehgion  and  native 
cults,  as  well  as  the  strange  customs  connected  there- 
with, were  to  be  undertaken  here,  a  very  large  volume 
would  be  the  outcome.  Because,  as  in  every  country 
where  nature  worship  and  demonology  had  the  effect 
of  endowing  everything  with  a  spirit,  of  good  or  of 
evil,  the  local  deities  vary  in  attributes  directly  as 
their  number.  We  should  have  to  give  considerable 
space  to  each  island,  and  there  would  be  something  to 
say  for  every  one  of  the  thousands  of  village  com- 
munities. This  is  manifestly  impossible  and  utterly 
unprofitable,  therefore  a  brief  statement  must  sufiice. 

The  members  of  the  Cook  expedition  observed  that 
the  Hawaiians  shared  with  their  southern  ethnic  con- 
nections, in  fact  all  the  peoples  of  Polynesia,  the 
adoration  of  certain  birds,  superstitiously  not  aestheti- 
cally. Captain  Clerke  stated  that  he  thought  the 
raven  was  the  particular  object  of  this  adoration  with 
the  Sandwich  Islanders.  His  reason  for  this  opinion 
was  that  at  one  of  the  villages  he  saw  two  tame  ravens. 
He  did  not  actually  see  them  worshipped,  but  he  was 
told  they  were  sacred.  He  tried  to  buy  them,  but  was 
consistently  refused,  although  it  was  not  a  matter  of 
price;  and  he  was  charged  very  strictly  not  to  hurt  or 
offend  the  birds,  else  to  the  wrath  of  the  gods  would 
be  added  bodily  chastisement  at  the  hands  of  the 
living. 


FORMER     SOCIAL     CONDITIONS        67 

Human  sacrifice  had  a  strong  religious  significance. 
Not  only  was  this  offered  to  propitiate  the  gods  before 
going  to  war  or  undertaking  any  important  enterprise; 
but  it  was  the  duty  of  the  priests  to  kill  several  human 
beings  at  the  time  of  a  chief's  funeral,  apparently  with 
the  idea  of  providing  him  with  attendants  in  the  future 
state.  The  number  of  these  unfortunate  victims  varied 
with  the  rank  and  importance  of  the  chief;  a  dead  king 
was  sometimes  supplied  with  thousands  of  these 
ghostly  servitors.  They  were  not  selected  because  of 
their  nearness  to  the  dead  man  during  life,  as  was 
often  the  case  in  other  countries  where  the  same  custom 
was  followed.  They  were  designated,  almost  at 
haphazard,  it  would  seem,  by  the  priest  and  then  an 
executioner  stole  up  behind  them  and  dashed  out 
their  brains  with  a  club.  There  was  just  a  semblance 
of  mercy  in  that  ignorance. 

It  was  impossible  for  those  earliest  European  visitors 
to  gain  a  correct  idea  of  the  natives'  belief  regarding 
the  life  or  condition  after  death.  That  they  held 
firmly  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  incontestible. 
Inquiry  brought  out  nothing  more  satisfactory  than 
that  the  breath,  which  those  people  appeared  to  con- 
sider the  soul,  or  immortal  part,  went  to  the  gods. 
The  Hawaiians  described  vaguely  the  particular  place 
in  the  nether  world  which  they  imagined  was  the 
abode  of  the  dead;  but  the  inquirers  could  not  determine 
whether  or  not  reward  or  punishment  were  associated 
with  that  spirit  existence. 

The  later  Europeans,  traders,  sailors,  adventurers, 
paid  Uttle  or  no  attention  to  the  history  of  Hawaiian 


68  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

religion,  or  indeed  to  history  of  any  kind;  and  it  was 
not  until  the  first  missionaries  gave  consideration  to 
this  important  subject  that  we  begin  to  get  a  gleam  of 
hght.  The  origin  of  kapu,  taboo,  so  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  reHgion,  goes  back  to  the  very  beginning  of 
human  occupation  of  the  islands. 

There  were  Kahiko  (a  name  which  evidently  meant 
"the  ancient,"  or  perhaps  "the  creator")  and  his  wife, 
Kupulanakahau;  besides  these  were  the  two  immi- 
grants, Kukalaniehu,  and  his  wife,  Kahakauakoko. 
Wakea,  son  of  the  first  mentioned  couple,  and  Papa 
(the  oddity  of  this  name  will  strike  all  readers!),  daugh- 
ter of  the  second  pair,  became  the  progenitors  of  the 
Hawaiian  people.  To  Papa  was  given  the  greater 
dignity,  for  she  was  considered  a  goddess.  She  is 
credited  with  having  produced  the  islands,  as  an  ordi- 
nary woman  bears  children;  and  yet  another  of  her 
offspring  is  claimed  to  have  become  a  god.  Apparent 
inconsistencies  must  be  accepted  without  captious 
criticism. 

Wakea  was  thought  of  much  as  a  Patriarch,  and 
until  the  renovation  of  moral  ideas  was  complete 
throughout  the  entire  populace,  there  was  no  serious 
objection  raised  to  his  gross  immorahty.  He  wished 
to  commit  incest  with  his  firstborn  daughter,  and  this 
unholy  desire  gave  rise  to  kapu,  the  first  prohibition  of 
which  forbade  women  to  eat  in  the  presence  of  their 
husbands.  Wakea's  object  was,  it  is  clear,  to  permit 
of  a  man  indulging,  unwitnessed,  in  a  wicked  passion. 
Papa,  however,  became  apprised  of  what  was  going  on 
and  soundly  berated  her  husband.     "Upon  this  he  was 


FORMER     SOCIAL     CONDITIONS        69 

angry,  and  forbade  her  the  use  of  various  kinds  of 
food;  such  as  in  modern  times  have  been  tahu  to 
women;  degraded  her  —  spit  in  her  face,  and  put  her 
away,  and  made  a  wife  of  his  daughter.  Hence  the 
separate  eating  of  the  sexes  uniformly;  and  the  occa- 
sional separate  lodging  of  husbands  and  wives,  at  the 
will  of  kings  and  priests;  and  hence  the  sanction  of  the 
separation  at  pleasure,  of  husbands  and  wives,  and  of 
the  grossest  pollution,  incest,  and  fraud.  The  union 
of  a  brother  and  sister  in  the  highest  ranks  became 
fashionable,  and  continued  so  till  the  revealed  will  of 
God  was  made  known  to  them  by  our  Mission."  * 

The  religious  notions  of  the  Hawaiians  may  be 
summed  up  thus:  while  comparatively  simple  at  the 
beginning,  the  rites  before  long  came  to  be  nothing 
but  a  confused  mass  of  weird  practices.  Gods,  who 
were  at  once  tyrannical  and  capricious,  ruled  without 
mercy  over  a  people  devoid  of  true  morality;  and  this 
was  accomplished  through  the  machinations  of  priests 
who  were  all  as  vile  as  could  be.  Fear  totally  sup- 
planted law;  for  of  the  latter  there  was  none,  when 
every  king  and  chief  gave  his  wildest  fancy  the  freest 
rein,  holding  the  Hves  and  property  of  his  subjects  or 
serfs  as  his  to  do  with  as  he  pleased. 

Of  the  innumerable  deities  born  of  their  terrors,  there 
were  a  few  who  were,  perhaps,  somewhat  more  dreaded 
than  the  rest.  Pele,  goddess  of  volcanoes,  swept  away 
the  villages,  destroyed  their  savings,  and  made  a 
broad  path  of  sterility  and  death  where  had  been 
fertile  fields.     In  her  trail  came  Kamohoalii,  the  god 

*  Bingham,  op.  cit. 


70  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

of  pestilential  vapours,  Keuakepo,  the  god  who  sent 
the  downpour  of  fire,  Kanokekili,  the  god  of  thunder. 
All  these  dwelt  in  the  volcanoes  and  their  one  dehght 
was  to  overwhelm  the  people  with  disaster.  Of  Httle 
account  were  the  offerings  made  by  the  peasants 
through  the  priests  that  these  last  might  try  to  placate 
the  cruel  powers.  The  priests  themselves  too  often 
took  all  for  themselves  and  left  the  people  to  suffer 
even  more.  It  would  have  been  well  for  the  Ha- 
waiians  had  they  been  without  a  religion  for  centuries 
before  the  Christian  missionaries  brought  to  them  a 
knowledge  of  the  true  faith. 


CHAPTER   VI 
LAND  TENURE  AND  COGNATE  SUBJECTS 

IN  the  preamble  of  the  Joint  Resolution  of  the  two 
Houses  of  the  United  States  Congress,  July  7, 
1898,  which  provided  for  the  annexation  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands,  it  was  specified  that  the  absolute  fee 
and  ownership  of  all  public,  Government,  or  Crown 
lands,  public  buildings  or  edifices,  ports,  harbours, 
military  equipment,  and  all  other  public  property  of 
every  kind  and  description  which  had  belonged  to  the 
Government  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  together  with 
every  right  and  appurtenance  thereunto  appertaining, 
should  be  transferred  to  the  United  States.  In  other 
words,  the  government  of  the  United  States  absolutely 
supplanted  that  of  the  islands,  whether  the  latter  were 
technically  republican  or  monarchical. 

It  was,  however,  specifically  provided  that  the  public 
land  laws  of  the  United  States  should  not  apply  to 
Hawaii.  That  is  to  say:  it  was  not  intended,  nor  has 
it  yet  been  provided,  that  the  public  lands  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  should  be  surveyed  by  townships 
of  six  miles  square,  divided  into  sections  of  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  each,  and  these  again  subdivided  into 
quarter  sections,  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  to  be 
thrown  open  to  homestead  and  pre-emption  entry, 
upon  payment  of  the  standard  price  of  one  dollar  and 


72  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

a  quarter  per  acre,  or  otherwise  acquired  as  is  by  law 
contemplated  in  the  United  States  proper. 

On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  explicitly  provided  that 
the  public  property,  land,  and  all  appurtenances  shall 
be  reserved  for  the  use  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  and 
shall  be  under  the  control  of  the  territorial  govern- 
ment. Such  property  is  to  be  maintained,  managed, 
and  cared  for  by  the  territorial  government  at  its  own 
expense,  until  otherwise  provided  by  Congress,  or 
unless  taken  for  the  use  of  the  United  States  by  direc- 
tion of  the  president  or  of  the  governor  of  Hawaii. 
This  transferred  property,  then,  became  the  main  source 
of  revenue  for  the  maintenance  of  the  territorial  govern- 
ment, and  it  therefore  becomes  important  to  under- 
stand clearly  how  that  government  is  constituted. 

By  Act  of  Congress,  April  3,  1900,  a  territorial  form 
of  government,  substantially  the  same  as  that  which 
had  been  generally  recognised  in  the  territories  of  the 
United  States  proper,  was  estabhshed,  with  its  capital 
at  Honolulu,  on  the  island  of  Oahu.  At  its  head  is  a 
governor,  who  holds  office  for  four  years,  appointed 
by  the  president,  the  appointment  subject  to  confir- 
mation by  the  United  States  Senate.  There  are  a 
Senate,  composed  of  fifteen  members,  and  a  House  of 
Representatives,  with  thirty  members.  All  these 
officials  must  be  citizens  of  the  territory,  and  citizen- 
ship was  thus  defined:  all  persons  who  were  citizens 
of  the  Repubhc  of  Hawaii  on  August  12,  1898,  the  date 
when  the  annexation  was  ratified  and  confirmed,  were 
declared  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii.     Citizens  of  the  United  States,  resi- 


LAND     TENURE     SUBJECTS  73 

dent  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  on  or  since  August  12, 
1898,  provided  that  residence  has  been  for  one  con- 
tinuous year,  are  citizens  of  the  territory.  It  may 
not  be  generally  known  that  the  Act  of  Congress  dis- 
tinctly made  this  provision:  Chinese  persons  who 
were  bona  fide  citizens  of  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  on 
August  12,  1898  became  citizens  by  virtue  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act.  A  Chinese  child  who  had  been  born 
in  Hawaii  in  1885,  but  whose  father  was  not  a  natural- 
ised Hawaiian,  and  was  taken  to  China  by  his  mother, 
was  declared  to  be  entitled  to  re-enter  that  territory, 
wherein  his  father  still  resided. 

The  general  laws  of  the  territory  are  those  of  the 
United  States,  when  such  laws  are  not  inapplicable. 
This  provision  defines  the  mode  of  electing  territorial 
senators  and  representatives,  as  well  as  the  one 
delegate  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  Washington,  who  is  provided  for  by 
Act  of  Congress.  The  complications  which  were  in- 
evitable because  of  the  recognition  of  citizens  and 
rights  of  naturalised  Chinese  will  be  considered  in  a 
later  chapter. 

Clearly,  then,  the  incorporating  Act  of  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii  left  private  ownership  of  land  just  as  it  had 
been,  as  related  to  the  central  government,  whether  it 
was  kingdom,  republic,  or  territory,  when  the  land 
tenure  was  estabhshed  by  the  "Great  Division"  of 
1848.  Sufficient  has  already  been  said  of  the  general 
scope  and  effect  of  this  royal  act  of  Kamehameha  III, 
but  it  is  well  to  give  some  particulars.  It  is  also  right 
to  note  that  the  effort  of  later  sovereigns  to  annul 


74  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Kamehameha    Ill's   magnanimity   proved   inefifective 
and  led  to  disasters  for  themselves. 

About  984,000  acres,  or  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 
inhabited  area,  were  set  apart  for  the  support  of  the 
royal  family.  As  the  total  area  of  the  islands  is  esti- 
mated at  6,449  square  miles,  or  4,159,360  acres,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  uninhabited  area  is  assumed  to  be  but 
about  223,360  acres.  When  we  take  into  consideration 
the  volcanic  origin  of  the  islands  and  their  general 
geological  structure,  this  is  a  surprisingly  small  propor- 
tion of  actually  waste  land.  Nearly  one  and  a  half 
million  acres  were  assigned  for  the  use  of  the  Govern- 
ment; that  is,  to  provide  revenue  sufficient  to  carry  on 
the  administration,  and  of  course  the  royal  household, 
directly  or  indirectly,  derived  some  benefit  from  this 
apportionment.  More  than  one  million  six  hundred 
thousand  acres  were  handed  over  to  the  various  heredi- 
tary chiefs,  the  feudal  barons  of  Hawaii.  If  ''the 
tenure  by  which  lands  were  held  before  1838  was  strictly 
feudal,  resembhng  that  of  Germany  in  the  eleventh 
century,  and  lands  were  sometimes  enfeoffed  to  the 
seventh  degree,"  *  it  is  not  altogether  easy  for  the 
ordinary  reader  to  appreciate  the  improvement  which 
this  change  brought  about  for  the  great  mass  of  the 
population.  The  few  of  the  common  people  who  had 
been  able  to  secure  private  holdings  of  land  were  given 
deeds  conveying  the  fee-simple,  or  absolute  ownership. 
These  properties  had  come  through  the  generosity  of  a 
king  or  a  very  exceptional  chief.  With  these  private 
grants,  if  they  may  be  so  distinguished,  went  the  right 

*  See  Enc.  Brit.,  eleventh  ed.,  article,  Hawaii,  subdivision,  Agriculture. 


LAND     TENURE     SUBJECTS  75 

to  use  the  irrigating  ditches,  constructed  at  govern- 
ment expense,  as  well  as  the  privilege  of  fishing  in 
certain  sea-areas  adjacent  to  their  properties.  These 
same  privileges,  of  irrigation  and  fishing,  were  likewise 
attached  to  the  estates  of  the  Crown,  the  Government, 
and  the  Chiefs. 

These  private  properties,  apart  from  the  chiefs' 
lands,  amounted  to  some  twenty-eight  thousand 
acres,  or  less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  whole  area  of  the 
kingdom.  They  were  nearly  all  small  and  isolated 
patches  of  irregular  shapes,  and  were  so  hemmed  in 
by  the  Crown,  the  Government,  or  the  Chiefs'  lands 
as  to  be  of  doubtful  value;  therefore  the  benefit  which 
the  fee-simple  conferred  was  not  a  matter  of  so  much 
importance  as  it  might  seem  to  be. 

The  influence  of  custom  speedily  asserted  itself  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  common  people,  and  some  of 
the  chiefs'  estates  were  seriously  impaired  because  of 
similar  influence.  Being  unaccustomed  to  any  inde- 
pendence, because  from  time  immemorial  they  had 
lived  a  hand  to  mouth  existence,  or  cultivated  their 
village  communal  fields  at  the  command  of  hard  task- 
masters, the  peasants  proved  themselves  incapable 
of  managing  even  the  small  patches  which  were  given 
them,  and  these  were  rarely  of  greater  extent  than  ten 
acres. 

Most  of  these  small  owners  incurred  debts,  too 
frequently  through  dissipation  and  silly  extravagance, 
which  they  could  not  pay  and  the  foreclosure  of  liens 
upon  the  land  resulted  in  the  passing  of  title  to  foreigners 
against  whom  there  was  at  that  time  no  invidious 


76  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

discrimination  as  to  rights  to  hold  real  property.  This 
was  the  humble  beginning  of  some  of  the  great  estates 
which  are  now  held  by  non-Hawaiians. 

From  a  commendable  desire  to  curb  the  tendency 
towards  monopoly,  which  is  most  conspicuous  in  the 
direction  of  sugar,  rice,  and  timber  plantations,  the 
United  States  Congress  has  enacted  that  no  lease  of 
agricultural  land  shall  be  granted,  sold,  or  renewed  by 
the  government  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  for  a  longer 
period  than  fifteen  years,  and  in  every  such  case  the 
land,  or  any  part  thereof  so  leased,  may  at  any  time 
during  the  term  of  the  lease  be  withdrawn  from  the 
operation  thereof  for  homestead  or  public  purpose; 
in  which  case  the  rent  reserved  shall  be  reduced  in 
proportion  to  the  value  of  the  part  so  withdrawn,  and 
every  such  lease  shall  contain  a  provision  to  that 
effect. 

In  the  same  direction  of  wisdom  was  the  provision 
that  no  lease  of  the  government  land  should  be  for 
more  than  one  thousand  acres  in  a  compact  body; 
nor  should  two  or  more  leases  be  given  for  contiguous 
or  adjoining  areas  of  one  thousand  acres  each,  which 
might  be  amalgamated  and  thus  tend  to  the  creation 
of  a  monopoly.  For  various  reasons,  and  generally 
these,  it  must  be  admitted,  were  vaHd,  it  has  been  found 
desirable  to  stretch  the  limitations  of  this  act  so  as  to 
permit  of  the  expansion  of  estates.  To  the  credit  of 
the  territorial  government  it  may  be  said  that  this 
seeming  infraction  of  law  has  not  worked  to  the  serious 
disadvantage  of  the  populace;  although  there  have 
been  some  vehement  protests  by  those  who  claim  to 


LAND     TENURE     SUBJECTS  77 

be  the  champions  of  popular  rights  against  monopoly 
and  "vested  interests." 

One  very  important  reason  for  the  apparent  dispro- 
portion, in  former  times,  of  cultivated  land  to  the 
whole  area  of  that  which  was  clearly  arable,  was  given 
by  the  first  observers.  These  concluded  that  for  some 
cause,  which  they  could  not  satisfactorily  determine 
because  of  their  short  stay  and  entire  ignorance  of  the 
language,  the  increase  in  population  was  not  sufficient 
to  render  it  necessary  to  expand  the  size  of  the  fields. 
Although  Cook  stated  that  what  he  saw  of  agriculture 
justified  his  assuming  that  the  natives  were  by  no 
means  novices  in  the  art,  and  tilled  their  fields  with  an 
intensiveness  fully  comparable  with  anything  he  had 
seen  in  other  parts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  he  was  never- 
theless impressed  by  the  small  extent  of  reclaimed  and 
cultivated  land. 

Later  knowledge  made  it  clear  to  observers  that  the 
frequent  and  bloody  wars,  the  horrible  human  sacrifices 
connected  with  religious  rites  or  terrible  superstitions, 
and  infanticide  that  was  very  frequent  were  quite 
sufficient  causes  to  explain  the  relative  sparseness  of 
the  population  and  its  seeming  numerical  stabihty. 
After  the  introduction  of  horses  and  their  use  in  num- 
bers became  general,  another,  and  rather  peculiar, 
reason  for  the  slow,  almost  non-increase  of  population, 
and  eventually  for  its  absolute  decrease,  was  properly 
assigned.  When  the  Hawaiian  people  learnt  how  to 
ride,  they  usually  did  so  "barebacked"  and  astride. 
The  women  were  quite  as  fond  of  mounting  a  horse  in 
this  way  as  were  the  men,  indeed  they  knew  no  other 


78  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

way  to  sit  a  horse.  Mounted  "  cross  saddle,"  they  raced 
pell-mell  over  the  country,  and  this  habit,  to  express 
it  as  delicately  as  possible,  could  but  have  a  very  bad 
effect  upon  most  women  who  were  expecting  to  be- 
come mothers;  not  only  was  the  birth  rate  effected,  but 
too  frequently  the  prospective  mother  lost  her  own  Ufe. 

Modern  writers  who  give  their  attention  to  the 
study  of  social  and  religious  matters  amongst  uncul- 
tured or  even  heathen  peoples  (these  last  are  now 
very  few)  have  some  difl&culty  in  conveying  to  readers 
a  clear  idea  of  such  institutions  and  their  influence 
upon  human  character.  If  such  be  the  case,  how 
much  more  difficult  was  the  task  facing  the  earliest 
recorders  of  Hawaiian  history,  when  studying  those 
institutions  which  had  such  great  influence  upon  the 
formation  of  character  and  the  affairs  that  ruled  general 
poHty. 

It  must  have  been  noticed  that  the  present  writer 
is  somewhat  disposed  to  attribute  to  the  influence  of 
stray  Japanese  considerable  that  was  otherwise  obscure 
in  the  social  institutions  of  the  Hawaiians.  In  Japan, 
the  feudal  system  came  to  be  a  fairly  fixed  institution 
many  centuries  ago.  Yoritomo  Minamoto,  born  1146, 
died  1 198  A.D.,  is  generally  credited  with  having 
founded  the  feudal  system  of  Japan,  although  some 
writers  contend  that  it  was  established  by  Jimmu 
Tenno,  the  semi-divine  progenitor  of  the  Japanese 
people,  in  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian  era. 
The  civilisation  of  Japan  was  certainly  of  a  high  type 
long  before  the  Hawaiian  Islands  were  really  brought 
under  the  permanent  influence  of  Europeans. 


LAND     TENURE     SUBJECTS  79 

Remembering  the  remarkable  consistency  and  agree- 
ment which  marked  the  recitations  of  native  bards, 
absolutely  a  feat  of  memory  and  oral  tradition,  who 
gave  the  names  of  seventy-seven  kings,  there  is  a 
slight  basis  for  saying  that  we  have  at  least  a  semblance 
of  Hawaiian  history  for  several  centuries  prior  to 
Cook's  visit  One  very  conservative  writer  allows  to 
those  kings  an  average  reign  of  only  five  years,  and 
thus  derives  a  traditionary  history  for  a  period  of 
nearly  four  hundred  years,  or  back  into  the  fourteenth 
century.  Judging  by  what  we  know  of  the  length  of 
time  that  historic  rulers  of  Hawaii  have  held  the  throne, 
in  circumstances  which  should  have  tended  rather  to 
shorten  than  to  prolong  life,  and  this  therefore  would 
increase  the  average,  we  may  safely  say  that  the  four 
centuries  could  be  increased  to  eight.  Hawaiian  kings 
and  rulers  were  undoubtedly  much  addicted  to  over- 
indulgence with  their  intoxicant,  awa,  but  its  effect 
cannot  have  been  so  demorahsing  or  tending  to  shorten 
life  as  was  that  of  the  vile  liquors  which  Europeans 
introduced. 

Before  1820,  and  at  fairly  frequent  intervals  since 
that  date,  Japanese  junks  have  been  stranded  on  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  or  the  crews  of  shipwrecked  ones 
have  been  rescued  by  the  natives,  or  by  whaHng  ships 
in  nearby  waters.  If  this  has  occurred  within  times  of 
which  we  have  authentic  records,  it  is  perfectly  reason- 
able to  assume  that  it  happened  in  prehistoric  times. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  Japanese  makes  it  easy  to  under- 
stand how  the  feudal  system  could  have  been  accom- 
plished  in   that   country   absolutely   without   foreign 


8o  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

influence.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  extremely  hard  to 
convince  ourselves  that  a  similar  institution  could  have 
been  devised  by  the  Hawaiians,  whose  chiefs  or  kings 
even  were  scarcely  sufficiently  cultured  to  have  done 
so  spontaneously.  Yet  feudalism  was  estabhshed, 
and  for  many  centuries  it  must  have  flourished  in  the 
independent  kingdoms  of  the  separate  islands.  We 
know  it  did  exist,  with  an  ever-increasing  tendency  to 
blight  the  real  material  development  of  the  country, 
for  a  time  after  the  whole  archipelago  was  united  under 
the  rule  of  one  monarch,  Kamehameha  I. 

This  speculation  does  not  in  any  serious  way  conflict 
with  the  general  opinion  of  the  Hawaiians,  as  part  of 
the  great  mass  of  people  inhabiting  the  groups  of 
Pacific  Islands,  that  "their  mythology,  traditions, 
manners  and  customs,  language,  and  physical  ap- 
pearance, in  their  main  features,  are,  so  far  as  we  had 
an  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  them, 
identically  the  same,  yet  differing  in  many  respects 
from  those  of  the  islands  to  the  westward  of  Tonga- 
taboo."  * 

The  social  structure  in  the  earliest  times  of  which 
we  can  get  a  glimpse  indicates  a  certain  homogeneity. 
Gradually  this  changed  to  the  debased  rule  of  chiefs 
and  slaves.  With  feudaHsm  and  hereditary  rights, 
the  separation  into  classes  became  more  marked  and 
unsatisfactory.  The  priestly  class  combined  heredity 
with  selection  by  training  and  influence:  this,  too,  was 
obnoxious  to  the  masses. 

*  Ellis,  op.  cil. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  PASSING  OF  HAWAIIAN  RULE 

IN  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer,  the  first  pre- 
monition of  the  instability  of  the  native  rule  was 
given  at  a  time  much  further  back  than  the  events  of 
the  third  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  although 
most  authorities  see  nothing  ominous  until  the  distur- 
bances which  came  with  the  end  of  the  Kamehameha 
line. 

That  there  were  portentous  signs  in  some  of  the 
occurrences  at  the  time  of  Vancouver's  final  visit  are 
now  clear  to  the  mind  of  many.  That  estimable  man's 
deportment  in  every  way  tended  to  remove  the  ill 
efifects  of  Cook's  murder,  and  to  put  the  British  in  a 
position  of  respect  and  potent  influence.  He  had 
given  mihtant  aid;  he  had  helped  to  develop  the 
people  by  showing  them  how  to  build  foreign-style 
vessels;  he  had  effected  a  reconciliation  between  King 
Kamehameha  and  his  favourite  queen,  Kaahumanu, 
who  had  left  him  because  of  jealousy  fomented  by 
,  unfriendly  chiefs,  and  this  ensured  for  himself,  as  well 
as  for  his  royal  master,  the  gratitude  and  affection  of 
the  two  most  powerful  people  of  Oahu.  His  advice 
had  been  of  a  wholesome  kind  likely  to  make  a  lasting 
impression  with  king,  queens,  chiefs,  and  common 
people.  But  without  intending  to  detract  from  Van- 
couver's motives  or  acts,  it  must  be  remembered  that 


82  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

he  was  a  loyal  subject,  and  his  main  idea  was  to  pro- 
mote the  dignity  of  his  king  and  advance  the  interests 
of  his  own  fellow-countrymen. 

The  volatile  Hawaiians  at  once  seemed  to  feel  that 
their  only  safety  lay  in  securing  the  protection  of  the 
puissant  king  whom  Vancouver  represented.  Not 
only  did  this  seem  to  be  imperatively  necessary  lest 
another  great  European  power  than  Great  Britain,  or 
possibly  the  young  and  aggressive  United  States, 
might  endeavour  to  absorb  their  country,  but  they 
were  justly  apprehensive  of  internal  dissension.  This 
last  mentioned  fear  was  demonstrated  to  be  a  sub- 
stantial one  almost  immediately;  because  before 
Vancouver  finally  sailed  away,  the  people  of  Maui 
Island  attacked  Hawaii  and  would,  if  successful  (which 
they  came  pretty  near  being),  have  absorbed  that 
island  and  set  up  their  own  king  as  the  first  ruler  of  the 
whole  group. 

The  Mauians  were  defeated  mainly  through  assist- 
ance rendered  by  the  foreigners,  but  the  event  had  a 
powerful  effect  upon  Kamehameha,  and  he  certainly 
did  make  some  overtures  to  Vancouver  which  looked 
very  much  Hke  an  offer  to  cede  his  rights.  Whether 
the  American  version  of  this  episode  or  the  British  is 
exactly  correct,  it  is  now  impossible  to  say  positively. 
The  former  declares  the  natives  stated  that  their  king 
and  themselves  wished  merely  to  have  the  King  of 
England  give  them  protection  against  civil  wars  and 
foreign  aggression.  On  the  other  hand,  Vancouver  is 
declared  to  have  left  with  Kamehameha  I  a  statement 
to  this  effect:    "Kamehameha  made  the  most  solemn 


PASSING     OF     HAWAIIAN     RULE        83 

concession  of  the  island  of  Owyhee  [Hawaii]  to  His 
Britannic  Majesty,  his  heirs,  etc.;  and  himself,  with 
his  attending  chiefs,  unanimously  acknowledged  them- 
selves subjects  to  the  British  Crown." 

Later,  there  was  a  recurrence  of  this  seeming  dispo- 
sition to  seek  protection  from  or  annexation  to  Great 
Britain.  Apparently  it  all  came  to  nothing,  and  for 
more  than  a  century  Hawaii  was  an  independent 
nation.  But  there  seems  to  have  been  something 
ominous  in  the  mere  fact.  It  indicated  a  certain 
inherent  weakness  that  eventually  would  cause  the 
passing  of  Hawaiian  rule.  So  long  as  the  Pacific  Ocean 
remained  a  comparatively  little  travelled  sea,  the  im- 
portance of  the  group  of  islands  was  virtually  negligi- 
ble. It  so  happened  that  nothing  occurred  to  change 
these  conditions  until  after  the  nineteenth  century  had 
wrought  a  part  of  its  mighty  effects.  Yet  had  any 
untoward  circumstance  sprung  up  previously,  it  is 
more  than  probable  there  would  have  been  seizure, 
with  inevitable  war  between  the  United  States  and  the 
aggressor;  or  peaceful  transfer  to  but  one  possible 
great  power,  the  United  States  of  America. 

We  must,  with  almost  brutal  frankness,  attribute  the 
real  beginning  of  the  series  of  events  which  finally 
culminated  in  the  passing  of  Hawaiian  rule,  to  the 
terrible  shock  which  the  native  culture  sustained  in 
its  first  permanent  and  sustained  intercourse  with 
Europeans.  Cook  tried  earnestly  and  humanely  to 
prevent  one  evil  result  being  implanted ;  but  the  vicious- 
ness  of  some  of  his  seamen,  who  were  diseased,  and 
the  willing  prostitution   of   the   native  women   com- 


84  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

pletely  balked  his  efforts.  In  1778  the  seeds  of  a 
disease  were  implanted  that  was  to  number  its  victims 
by  the  scores  of  thousands. 

Cook's  estimate  of  the  population  of  all  the  islands 
at  four  hundred  thousand  people  was  a  ludicrous  ex- 
aggeration. It  could  hardly  have  been  one-half  of 
that,  and  in  less  than  fifty  years  from  the  date  of  Cook's 
first  visit,  a  careful  computation  put  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  archipelago  at  not  to  exceed  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  souls,  of  whom  more  than  one-half 
lived  on  the  largest  island,  Hawaii.  In  1849,  the 
population,  as  determined  by  a  reasonably  accurate 
census,  was  eighty  thousand;  in  1853,  seventy-three 
thousand,  of  whom  a  few  more  than  two  thousand 
were  foreigners.  In  i860,  the  number  had  fallen  to 
sixty-nine  thousand  eight  hundred,  including  nearly 
three  thousand  foreigners,  but  excluding  probably  a 
thousand  natives  who  were  away  from  home  at  the 
time  of  taking  the  census,  on  merchant  ships,  engaged 
in  the  guano  trade,  or  in  other  enterprises.  Then,  for 
a  time,  it  was  thought  that  the  decrease  in  the  native 
population  had  been  checked;  and  so  it  may  have 
been,  but  the  arrest  in  this  depopulation  was  cer- 
tainly not  long  continued. 

According  to  the  census  of  the  United  States  for 
1 9 10,  the  total  population  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
was  191,909,  an  increase  of  37,908,  or  24.61  per  cent 
since  1900.  The  population  was  divided  as  follows: 
pure  Hawaiian,  26,041;  half  Hawaiian,  12,506;  Japan- 
ese, 79,674;  Chinese,  21,674;  Portuguese,  22,303; 
Spanish,    1,990;    Porto    Ricans,   4,890;    other    Cauca- 


PASSING     OF     HAWa'iIAN    RULE        85 

sians  including  Americans,  British,  Germans,  14,867; 
black  and  mulatto,  695;  all  others  7,269.  The  decrease 
in  the  number  of  pure  Hawaiians  in  ten  years  was 
3,746;  the  increase  in  the  number  of  half  Hawaiians 
4,658.  As  the  islands  have  a  total  area  of  6,449 
square  miles,  this  population  means  an  average  of  29.75 
persons  to  the  mile.  The  census  bureau  estimated 
the  population  for  191 2  as  200,065.  Chinese  and 
Korean  immigration  is  prohibited.  Aside  from  the 
horrible  disease  that  has  been  already  alluded  to, 
the  native  Hawaiians  have  suffered  terribly  from 
several  other  maladies  which  were  unknown  amongst 
them  until  imported  by  foreigners.  Of  these  the 
most  fatal  have  been  dysentery,  influenza,  measles, 
and  pulmonary  tuberculosis.  It  cannot  be  wholly  to 
the  impact  of  foreign  civilisation  that  the  sad  passing 
away  of  the  true  Hawaiian  is  to  be  attributed.  We 
must,  reluctantly,  recognise  what  so  many  charitable 
observers  have  commented  upon,  a  seemingly  natural 
tendency  towards  depravity  and  vice,  while  to  those 
destructive  causes  must  be  added  the  awful  prevalence 
of  infanticide.  Even  to-day,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of 
American  officials,  this  crime,  whether  by  murder  of 
the  born  infant  or  abortion,  often  brought  about  by 
means  which  cause  the  mother's  death  as  well,  is 
horribly  prevalent. 

Added  to  all  these  causes  making  for  degeneracy, 
is  the  further  one  that  marriage  between  Caucasians 
and  Hawaiians  rarely  results  in  offspring  who  display 
the  strength  of  either  parent;  either  the  virility  of  the 
father  or  the  charm  of  the  mother.     Intermarriages 


86  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

between  Hawaiian  women  and  men  of  the  Mongolian 
race  often  bear  most  admirable  results,  but  upon  this 
subject  more  will  be  said  in  a  later  chapter. 

Hawaiian  girls,  as  a  rule,  show  a  decided  preference 
for  European  mates  over  young  men  of  their  own  blood. 
Upon  this  subject  another  author  has  quite  recently 
expressed  himself  so  perfectly  in  accord  with  the  present 
writer's  views,  that  quotation  is  but  fair.  "There  are 
notable  exceptions  of  part-Hawaiians  in  important 
public  and  private  positions,  but  as  a  rule,  among  the 
men  at  least,  it  seems  to  be  the  weak  quahties  of  both 
races  which  are  exemplified  in  the  children  of  mixed 
marriages.  As  the  Hawaiian  blood  becomes  more  and 
more  diluted  this  may  not  be  the  case,  but  as  it  is  now 
it  makes  even  sadder  the  breaking  up  of  the  race,  be- 
cause too  often  in  the  half-Hawaiian  it  is  the  moral 
weakness  that  will  be  noted  and  imputed  to  the  native 
blood,  not  the  physical  strength;  the  love  of  gambling, 
not  the  honesty;  the  vacillation,  not  the  loyalty;  the 
trickiness,  not  the  childlike  simphcity.  An  ethnologist, 
a  few  generations  hence,  in  attempting  to  reconstruct 
from  the  predominant  characteristics  of  their  mongrel 
descendants  a  picture  of  the  ancient  Hawaiian  race, 
will  make  them  a  people  despicable  and  thoroughly 
degraded.  And  those  who  have  known  them  in  their 
integrity,  like  children  faulty  and  volatile,  but  like 
children  eager  to  be  taught  and  susceptible  to  every 
good  influence,  will  no  longer  be  there  to  defend  them. 
The  man  who  would  see  the  remnants  of  a  genial, 
kindly,  affectionate  race  must  see  them  now  or  never."  * 

*  Castle,  op.  cit. 


PASSING     OF     HAWAIIAN     RULE        87 

It  may  well  be  asked:  "Was  it  not  inevitable  that  the 
rule  must  pass  from  the  hands  of  a  people  displaying 
such  traits  and  possessing  such  tendencies?" 

It  must  be  stated  here  that  King  Kamehameha  IV, 
who  was  proclaimed  December  16,  1854  and  took  the 
oath  (practically  the  same  as  coronation)  January  11, 
1855,  married,  on  the  i6th  of  June,  1856,  Emma, 
daughter  of  Naea,  a  chief  lineally  descended  from  the 
ancient  kings  of  Hawaii.  This  Queen  Emma  figures 
prominently  in  the  preliminaries  which  led  up  to  the 
ultimate  passing  of  Hawaiian  rule.  Her  mother, 
who  was  known  as  Fanny  Kekua,  was  the  daughter  of 
the  famous  American  (his  nationality  is  disputed), 
John  Young,  whom  the  natives  called  Keoni  Ana, 
the  confidential  adviser  of  Kamehameha  I,  upon  whom 
that  monarch  delighted  to  shower  honours.  Young 
married  a  female  chief,  one  Kaoanaeha,  who  was  of 
the  very  highest  rank  outside  the  royal  family  itself. 
Queen  Emma  was  therefore  one-fourth  English  or 
American  blood,  while  the  other  three  parts  were  of 
the  most  aristocratic  and  purest  Hawaiian  strain. 

In  her  infancy,  Emma  was  adopted  by  Dr.  Rooke, 
an  English  medical  practitioner  living  at  Honolulu. 
The  adoptive  father  saw  to  it  carefully  that  her  educa- 
tion and  natural  parts  were  developed  in  such  a  way 
as  to  fit  her  for  any  position  she  might  be  called  upon 
to  fill  in  mature  hfe.  She  was  conspicuous  for  her 
comeliness,  grace,  and  dignity,  and  she  made  herself 
very  dear  to  the  Hawaiian  masses  by  her  constant 
effort  to  assist  her  royal  husband  in  everything  he  under- 
took for  the  welfare  and  advancement  of  his  subjects. 


88  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

On  the  2oth  of  May,  1858,  Queen  Emma  bore  a  son 
who,  by  royal  letters  patent,  dated  the  29th  of  that 
same  month,  was  declared  to  be  the  heir-apparent 
with  the  title  "His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of 
Hawaii."  Attention  hardly  needs  to  be  drawn  to  the 
sincere  flattery  of  this  imitation. 

On  October  3,  1858,  at  an  extraordinary  session  of 
the  House  of  Nobles,  summoned  to  convene  at  the 
Palace,  the  baby  was  formally  designated  heir  and 
successor  to  the  throne  —  the  nobles  concurring  and 
swearing  allegiance.  The  following  day  the  appoint- 
ment was  formally  proclaimed  throughout  the  king- 
dom, and  in  due  course  was  notified  to  all  friendly 
powers.  It  was  the  loss  of  this  greatly  beloved  son, 
upon  whose  future  so  much  was  to  be  built,  that 
broke  Kamehameha  IV's  heart,  causing  his  death  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-nine,  and  the  accession  of  his 
elder  brother,  who  took  the  title  of  Kamehameha  V, 
and  with  his  death  ended  the  old  royal  Une  of  "The 
Kamehamehas,"  as  the  Hawaiians  dehght  to  call  them. 
For  Kamehameha  V  did  not  designate  his  successor 
and  LunaHlo,  a  representative  of  a  famous  feudal 
line,  but  not  strictly  of  the  blood  royal,  was  elected 
king.  He  died  in  a  couple  of  years  and  was  succeeded, 
again  through  election,  by  Kalakaua;  "King  David," 
he  was  dubbed  by  some,  for  David  was  his  baptismal 
name.  It  was  in  his  time  that  the  reactionary  con- 
stitution, reverting  to  conditions  of  the  past  that 
greatly  favoured  the  king  and  chiefs  to  the  enormous 
disadvantage  of  the  commoners,  went  into  effect  by 
the  king's  proclamation  alone,  without  the  statutory 


PASSING     OF     HAWAIIAN    RULE        89 

action  in  approval  of  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
This  produced  dissatisfaction  which  presaged  the  disas- 
ters, from  the  royal  point  of  view,  of  the  future. 

When  Kalakaua  secured  the  crown  by  election  in 
1874,  ex-Queen  Emma  attempted  to  re-assert  her 
influence  and  contested  the  election  unsuccessfully. 
Although  suspected  of  being  imbued  with  too  strong  a 
pro-British  feeling  because  of  her  being  a  devout 
member  of  the  Anglican  communion,  it  is  reasonably 
sure  that  had  she  gained  the  control  of  government, 
the  political  and  material  prosperity  of  the  islands 
would  have  been  conserved  and  expanded.  The 
charge  that  she  intended  to  establish  a  state  religion, 
conforming  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England,  if 
she  gained  the  throne,  is  probably  true,  and  had  she 
succeeded  it  might  have  been  disastrous,  although 
it  is  difficult  to  see  that  it  would  necessarily 
have  been  fatal  to  her  administration.  Undoubtedly, 
Queen  Emma,  at  that  time,  was  not  too  friendly  in 
her  feelings  towards  the  United  States,  if  she  was 
not  openly  antagonistic. 

Whatever  may  be  said  against  the  moral  character 
of  the  members  of  "The  Kamehameha  Line"  and  the 
personal  behaviour  of  some  of  them,  they  must  be 
credited  with  having  displayed  wisdom  in  the  choice  of 
their  advisers.  Seeming  to  realise  that  the  natives 
had  not  attained  the  qualifications  for  such  important 
functions  —  partly  through  inherent  defect  but  mainly 
because  of  lack  of  experience  —  they  called  upon,  as 
a  rule,  the  ablest  and  most  public-spirited  of  the  Ameri- 
can and  European  residents  to  give  their  aid  in  carrying 


go  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

on  the  government.  From  amongst  those  unselfish, 
competent,  and  unprejudiced  men  the  chief  Cabinet 
Ministers  and  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  were 
chosen.  From  the  date  of  adoption  of  the  first  con- 
stitution, during  the  early  years  of  Kamehameha  Ill's 
reign  (i 824-1854)  until  the  election  of  King  Kalakaua, 
but  one  native  sat  on  the  Supreme  Bench. 

Kalakaua  was  almost  insane  in  his  jealousy  of  the 
increasing  wealth  and  developing  power  of  the  for- 
eigners, and  he  had  the  bad  taste  as  well  as  the  poor 
judgment  to  let  his  feeHngs  show  themselves,  with 
the  inevitable  result  that  he  drove  away  from  him- 
self all  who  might  have  rendered  wise  and  useful 
assistance;  who  might  possibly  have  helped  his 
country  to  weather  the  impending  storm.  Kalakaua 
surrounded  himself  with  natives  and  foreigners  who 
flattered  him  and  intensified  his  race  prejudice.  In 
this  way  those  sycophants  secured  large  sums  of  money 
from  the  royal  purse  and  the  state  treasury,  as  well  as 
great  estates  of  the  best  land  at  the  king's  disposal. 
There  was  rarely  any  good  reason  for  his  munificence. 
The  properties  which  were  acquired  in  this  reprehensi- 
ble manner  were  on  a  totally  different  basis  from  the 
estates  which  some  foreigners  had  acquired  under 
Kalakaua's  predecessors.  Those  had  been  secured  by 
purchase  at  perfectly  commensurate  prices;  or  as  rea- 
sonable gifts  for  extraordinary  "services  rendered," 
and  in  many  of  these  last  mentioned  cases,  the  lands 
had  been  made  over  by  the  grantees  to  the  common 
people  to  be  used  for  educational  purposes. 

The  situation  in  1887  was,  therefore,  anything  but 


PASSING    OF    HAWAIIAN    RULE        QI 

satisfactory  to  the  wise  men,  whether  natives  or 
foreigners,  who  had  the  real  interests  of  the  country  at 
heart;  and  there  was  naturally  general  and  serious 
discontent  at  the  state  of  affairs.  Now  was  begun  a 
secret  movement  to  resist  further  royal  effort  to  curtail 
the  rights  of  the  masses  and  to  check  the  demoralisa- 
tion due  to  the  king's  reckless  extravagance.  The 
people  were  ready  to  demand  speedy  and  radical 
reforms  in  every  direction.  Some  organisation  was 
effected  by  the  malcontents  and  arms  were  secured. 
Actual  attack  upon  the  palace  and  a  plan  to  force  the 
king  to  grant  demands  for  reform  or  to  abdicate  were 
seriously  contemplated;  but  saner  counsels  prevailed 
and  a  pubKc  mass  meeting  was  called  to  memorialise 
the  king.  The  foreign  residents  generally  had  com- 
municated their  fears  of  personal  danger  to  their  respec- 
tive governments,  and  had  asked  for  interference  and 
protection.  Passing  over  many  stirring  events  of 
King  Kalakaua's  reign,  we  come  to  his  death  in  the 
Palace  Hotel,  San  Francisco,  on  January  20,  1891,  and 
now  the  last  act  of  the  drama  (or  should  it  be  called  a 
''tragedy"?)  opens. 

Having  no  heir,  Kalakaua  had'  named  his  sister 
LiKuokalani  as  heir-apparent.  She  took  of&ce  Janu- 
ary 29,  1 89 1.  What  was  to  have  been  expected  under 
her  administration  is  clearly  indicated  by  a  remark 
made  to  S.  M.  Damon,  Minister  of  Finance  under  the 
Republic  and  envoy  from  Hawaii  to  Queen  Victoria's 
Diamond  Jubilee.  He  had  said  that  what  Hawaii 
needed  was  a  responsible  Ministry.  Her  retort  was, 
"My  Ministers  shall  be  responsible  to  me!"     She  at 


92  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

once  made  it  apparent  that  she  intended  to  be  auto- 
cratic and  that  she  would  make  every  effort  to  revive 
an  absolute  monarchy.  She  prepared  a  new  constitu- 
tion, objectionable  in  many  ways:  one  of  them  was 
the  disfranchising  of  a  large  class  of  citizens  —  foreigners 
notably.  The  result  was  an  uprising  similar  to  that  of 
1887.  Various  parties  advocated  different  courses: 
there  was,  of  course,  the  royalist  party;  another  de- 
clared the  monarchy  forfeited  by  its  own  act  and 
demanded  a  Republic;  another,  whose  leaders  were 
dubbed  "Sons  of  Missionaries,"  for  obvious  reasons, 
sought  to  found  a  "  Gospel  Republic,"  which  was,  in 
fact,  to  be  a  purely  commercial  enterprise  contributing 
mainly  to  the  benefit  of  its  advocates.  In  the  midst 
of  this  confusion,  the  U.S.S.  Boston  arrived  and  landed 
troops.  Comment  upon  the  ethics  of  this  episode  is 
refrained  from,  and  readers  are  referred  to  other  sources 
for  information  for  and  against.  Queen  LiHuokalani, 
alleging  force  majeure,  surrendered  the  throne  under 
protest.  She  appealed  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  for  restitution  of  her  rights;  but  the 
Hawaiian  people,  natives  and  foreigners  acting  to- 
gether, had  taken  possession  of  the  government, 
reorganised  the  Repubhc,  and  a  treaty  of  annexation 
to  the  United  States  was  submitted  just  before  Presi- 
dent Harrison's  administration  closed,  March  4,  1893. 
President  Cleveland  promptly  withdrew  this  and  sent 
James  H.  Blount  to  investigate  the  state  of  affairs  in 
the  islands.  The  interesting  report  made  by  this 
commissioner  shows  how  King  Kalakaua  had  been 
compelled  to  dismiss  his  obnoxious  Cabinet  and  that 


PASSING     OF     HAWAIIAN     RULE        93 

the  new  one,  sworn  in  July  i,  1887,  was  generally  con- 
sidered to  have  been  one  of  the  strongest  and  ablest 
that  ever  held  office.  Important  constitutional  amend- 
ments were  secured  which  not  only  confirmed  to  the 
people  the  possession  of  their  civil  rights  and  brought 
about  material  prosperity,  but  secured  the  suffrage 
for  Americans  and  Europeans,  upon  naturalisation, 
a  privilege  which  had  until  then  been  stubbornly  with- 
held. This  last  mentioned  gain  was  distinctly  in  the 
line  of  equity,  because  the  white  residents  had  been 
paying  eighty-seven  per  cent  of  the  revenue.  It  was 
a  patent  case  of  taxation  without  representation  and  in 
this  instance  Britons  were  in  perfect  harmony  with 
Americans  in  resisting. 

Blount's  report  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  induce 
President  Cleveland  to  send  Albert  S.  Willis  with 
secret  instructions  as  special  ambassador  to  Queen 
LiUuokalani,  and  assurance  of  a  disposition  to  restore 
her.  He  secured  from  her  a  promise  of  a  general 
amnesty,  and  then,  June  19,  1893,  he  made  a  demand 
upon  the  provisional  Repubhcan  government  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Queen.  President  Sanford  B.  Dole 
declined  to  comply,  and  on  May  20,  1894  a  convention 
was  called  which  founded  the  Republic  of  Hawaii. 
This  was  officially  proclaimed  on  the  Fourth  of  the 
following  July,  Dole  being  made  the  President  de  facto. 
The  choice  of  the  date  was  not  an  accident. 

For  a  time  Queen  Lihuokalani  seemed  to  acquiesce 
in  the  changed  conditions;  but  later,  January,  1895, 
she  renewed  her  demands.  The  act  tending  to  disturb 
the  peace,  the  Queen  and  a  large  number  of  her  asso- 


94  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

dates  were  tried  for  treason  and  convicted;  fines  and 
terms  of  imprisonment  were  imposed.  Having  signed 
a  formal  letter  of  abdication  on  January  25th,  she, 
with  many  of  her  personal  followers,  was  pardoned  in 
September,  and  on  the  following  New  Year's  Day  the 
rest  were  included  in  the  pardon,  the  fines  being 
remitted. 

After  President  McKinley's  inauguration,  March  4, 

1897,  negotiations  for  annexation  were  renewed  and  on 
June  1 6th,  a  new  treaty  was  signed  at  Washington. 
The  transfer  of  sovereignty  was  made  on  August  12, 

1898,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  very  identical 
flag  which  commissioner  Blount  had  hauled  down  was 
raised  to  confirm  the  passing  of  Hawaiian  rule. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  transfer  was  looked  upon 
in  widely  diverging  ways.  That  it  was  favoured  by  a 
large  majority  is  self-evident,  or  it  would  not  have 
occurred.  The  ex-Queen,  practically  all  the  royal 
household,  and  a  small  number  of  royalists  resented  it 
bitterly;  and  with  them  were  associated  a  rather  sur- 
prisingly large  number  of  Americans  and  Europeans  — 
protegees  of  the  Court  or  inoculated  with  the  virus  of 
snobbery  —  who  to  this  day  declare  that  the  islands 
should  be  ceded  back  to  the  Hawaiians  and  the  royal 
line  of  sovereigns  restored. 

There  was  a  large  community  of  Asiatics  who  had 
no  voice  in  the  matter,  but  whose  personal  interests 
led  them  to  object  strenuously  to  the  passing  of  the 
weak  Hawaiian  rule.  The  complications  with  Japan 
concerning  immigration  were  probably  the  most  potent 
causes  of  these  objections. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
TEE  COMING  OF  AMERICAN  RULE 

THE  disappointment  of  the  majority  of  Hawaiians 
who  first  sought  annexation  to  the  United  States 
was  undoubtedly  great  and  sincere  when  they  reaUsed 
that  their  overtures  were  rejected.  Yet  in  a  certain 
way  the  failure  worked  to  their  advantage.  It  threw 
them  back  upon  themselves,  compelled  them  to  de- 
velop their  country  and  their  resources,  and  when  the 
time  was  ripe  for  the  transfer  they  were  a  more  desirable 
adjunct  than  they  otherwise  would  have  been. 

To  consider  first  the  reasons  that  led  the  American 
government  to  consent,  by  such  an  overwhelming  vote 
of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, to  accept  the  offer  of  the  Hawaiian  govern- 
ment and  people  to  cede  their  country  to  the  United 
States,  it  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  read  a  little 
of  the  "Joint  Resolution  To  provide  for  annexing  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  to  the  United  States."  It  is  dated 
July  7,  1898.  Preamble  "Whereas  the  Government 
of  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  having,  in  due  form,  signified 
its  consent,  in  the  manner  provided  by  its  constitution, 
to  cede  absolutely  and  without  reserve  to  the  United 
States  of  America  all  rights  of  sovereignty  of  whatso- 
ever kind  in  and  over  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  their 
dependencies,  .  .  .  Section  I.  Cession  accepted.  That 
said  cession  is  accepted,  ratified  and  confirmed,  and 


g6  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

that  the  said  Hawaiian  Islands  and  their  dependencies 
be,  and  they  are  hereby,  annexed  as  a  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  and  are  subject  to  the 
sovereign  dominion  thereof,  and  that  all  and  singular 
the  property  and  rights  hereinbefore  mentioned  are 
vested  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Hawaiian  constitution  of 
1894,  that  under  which  the  country  was  governed  at 
the  time  of  annexation,  contains  no  provision  such  as 
is  impHed  in  the  quoted  Preamble.  This,  however, 
is  a  technical  objection  and  is  of  so  Httle  importance 
that  no  one  has  seen  fit  hitherto  to  comment  upon  it 
because  the  sovereign  power  being  vested  in  the 
Executive,  Legislative,  and  Judicial  branches  of  the 
government,  the  act  of  the  first  two,  when  not  pro- 
nounced unconstitutional  by  the  third,  is  valid  even  if 
no  specific  mention  is  made  of  treaty-making  powers. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  the  treaty  of  annexation 
was  signed  at  Washington,  June  6,  1897,  but  inasmuch 
as  its  ratification  by  the  Senate  appeared  to  be  uncer- 
tain, the  above-mentioned  Joint  Resolution,  as  an 
extreme  measure,  was  introduced  by  Senator  Newlands, 
of  Nevada,  and  passed  in  the  Upper  House  by  a  vote 
of  42  to  21,  and  in  the  Lower  by  209  to  91.  It  was 
signed  by  the  President  on  the  same  day  it  was 
passed. 

It  would  be  an  unnecessary  re-telling  of  history  to 
comment  at  any  length  upon  the  reception  which  the 
treaty  of  annexation  and  the  formal  transfer  of  sover- 
eignty had  in  the  United  States  proper.  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  many  objected  on  principle  to  the  expansion 


COMING     OF    AMERICAN    RULE         97 

of  territory  beyond  the  limits  of  the  continent.  Others 
viewed  the  act  as  an  unwise  concession  to  certain 
vested  interests.  Others  deferred  their  adverse  com- 
ment until  it  was  decided  what  should  be  the  political 
status  of  the  newly  acquired  possession.  When  it  was 
determined  that  what  had  been  the  independent 
Republic  of  Hawaii  should  be  organised  as  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii,  differing  radically  from  the  insular  posses- 
sions, Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  these  critics 
claimed  to  see  the  estabhshment  of  what  may  be  at 
some  future  time  a  dangerous  precedent. 

The  political  organisation  of  the  territory  is  now 
just  the  same  as  that  of  any  of  the  states.  The  funda- 
mental act  of  organisation  contains  no  clause  which 
prohibits  the  promotion  of  the  territory  to  the  rank  and 
dignity  of  statehood;  therefore  there  seems  to  be  no 
valid  reason  why  such  an  application  should  not  even- 
tually be  made.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  there 
are  cogent  reasons  why  such  application  should  not  be 
made  too  hastily;  and  not  until  political  and  social 
conditions  are  more  stable  than  at  present.  Above  all, 
statehood  had  better  be  deferred  until  the  percentage 
of  Americans,  in  contradistinction  to  true  Hawaiian 
citizens,  has  greatly  increased. 

Fundamentally,  the  objection  to  Hawaiian  annexa- 
tion on  the  ground  that  a  possibly  awkward  precedent 
may  have  been  established,  hardly  seems  to  be  a  valid 
one,  if  that  were  all  that  could  be  said  against  making 
the  Territory  of  Hawaii  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
States  in  a  sense  which  cannot  yet  be  applied  to  any 
other  of  America's  over-seas  possessions;    and  which 


98  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

has  not  been  seriously  considered  in  the  case  of  Porto 
Rico,  the  Philippines,  or  any  other.  There  are  probably 
no  Hawaiians  upwards  of  twevle  years  of  age  who 
cannot  speak  and  read  English  —  or  if  there  are 
any  they  have  escaped  the  sharp  eyes  of  the  school 
inspectors. 

For  this  reason  and  the  added  one  of  political  train- 
ing, they  are  prepared  to  conform  to  our  institutions 
as  the  Spanish-speaking  peoples  of  Porto  Rico  and  the 
PhiUppines,  as  well  as  the  few  uncivihsed  natives  of 
the  latter  archipelago,  are  not  yet  and  will  not  be  for  a 
long  time,  unless  a  miracle  is  wrought  in  the  transforma- 
tion of  inherited  characteristics.  Hawaiians  took  most 
kindly  to  the  game  of  poHtics  as  played  by  American 
rules;  for  they  had  already  had  considerable  training 
at  the  hands  of  American  teachers  as  well  as  not  a  little 
practice  in  popular  elections  on  their  own  account. 

Prior  to  annexation,  the  line  of  cleavage  had  been 
between  royalists  and  liberals;  the  words  sufficiently 
indicating  the  respective  platforms.  Some  of  the 
staunch  supporters  of  the  monarchy  had  refused  to 
take  the  required  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Republic, 
and  had  by  that  act  been  disfranchised.  When  these 
dissatisfied  ones  reahsed  that,  certainly  in  their  day, 
there  was  to  be  no  possibility  of  re-estabhshing  Ha- 
waiian independence  and  restoring  of  monarchical 
rule,  most  of  them  gave  up  their  opposition,  subscribed 
to  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  thus  secured  registration  and  the  suffrage. 

It  is  amusing  to  note  how  promptly  American  politi- 
cal parties  supplanted  the  conservative  and  progressive 


COMING     OF     AMERICAN     RULE  99 

ones  of  pre-annexation  days.  At  home  there  were  not 
many  political  plums  to  be  picked;  but  it  is  astonishing 
how  promptly  our  adopted  citizens  and  colonists 
acquire  the  office-seeking  habit.  Whether  or  not  this 
imitation  is  sincere  flattery,  is  left  for  the  individual 
reader  to  determine.  The  "Home  Rule  Party"  — 
a  meaningless  term  —  was  promptly  formed.  Its 
leaders  promised  to  secure  control  of  the  territorial 
government  and  distribute  offices  carrying  fat  salaries 
with  a  liberal  hand,  if  the  Hawaiians  would  but  cast 
in  their  lot  with  it.  The  two  regular  American  parties, 
Democratic  and  Republican,  were  also  organised 
promptly,  and  these  have  now  practically  accomphshed 
the  elimination  of  Home  Rulers. 

Hawaiian  native  politicians  seem  to  have  been  much 
mistaken  in  the  importance  which  they  attached  to 
the  elective  office  of  Congressional  Delegate.  The 
Home  Rule  party,  since  it  very  naturally  controlled 
the  first  territorial  legislature,  secured  this  plum  and 
sent  to  Washington  a  man  who  was  credited  with  being 
a  confirmed  intriguer.  To  his  disgust,  however,  he 
found  upon  reaching  the  capitol  that  his  reputation 
for  unreliability  had  preceded  him,  and  that  he  was 
considered  as  of  very  little  importance  by  administra- 
tion officials,  senators,  and  representatives.  As  the 
Republican  party  gained  the  ascendancy  —  even  if 
the  territory,  like  most  of  the  states,  went  Democratic 
in  191 2  —  this  delegate  of  doubtful  value  was  replaced 
by  one  who  is  more  truly  representative.  Prince  Kuhio 
Kalaneanole,  although  his  name  appears  in  the  Con- 
gressional Directory  as  J.  Kalaniaole. 


lOO  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

It  will  be  seen  that  opposition  to  the  annexation  of 
Hawaii  was  not,  after  all,  very  fierce  in  the  United 
States,  although  there  were  some  outbursts  of  fiery 
oratory  in  the  halls  of  Congress  and  upon  platforms  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  more  sustained 
efforts  which  had  to  be  expressed  in  book  form.  That 
opposition  has  practically  all  passed  away  and  the 
effort  is  now  general  with  all  classes  to  make  the  terri- 
tory a  worthy  addition  to  our  sovereign  domain,  and 
to  guard  it  from  all  outside  evil  influence. 

Of  other  opposition  to  the  annexation  it  is  well  to 
speak.  The  Chinese  who  were  interested  in  the  opium 
traffic  were,  of  course,  strongly  against  the  transfer 
because  they  had  good  reason  to  fear  their  business 
would  be  interfered  with  and,  if  not  stopped  altogether, 
would  at  least  be  subjected  to  some  regulation  of  the 
traffic.  It  was  certain,  to  the  importers  and  vendors 
of  the  drug  for  smoking,  that  there  would  be,  under 
American  rule,  greater  moral  and  personal  super- 
vision brought  to  bear  upon  the  Hawaiians  to  induce 
them  to  give  up  or  refrain  from  the  deadly  habit. 

It  may  properly  be  mentioned  here  that  the  most 
serious  charge  brought  against  King  Kalakaua  was 
that  he  accepted  a  bribe  from  a  Chinese,  one  Ah  Ki,  of 
seventy-one  thousand  dollars  gold  (American  standard) 
for  licensing  the  unrestricted  sale  of  opium  throughout 
the  islands.  The  king  was  compelled  by  public  opinion 
and  legislative  opposition  to  cancel  the  license;  but  he 
failed  to  return  the  money  bribe.  Kalakaua  was 
eventually  adjudged  a  personal  bankrupt,  if  such  a 
thing  is  possible  of  a  ruling  sovereign.     His  personal 


COMING     OF     AMERICAN     RULE       lOI 

debts  amounted  to  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  he  made  an  assignment.  Three 
trustees  were  named,  who  refused  to  return  Ah  Ki's 
money.  The  Chinese  brought  suit  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  but  the  decision  was  to  the  effect  that  "the 
King  can  do  no  wrong";  which,  being  interpreted, 
meant  that  Kalakaua  could  not  be  sued  or  held  to 
account  in  any  court  of  the  kingdom. 

To  this  subject  of  Chinese  opposition  to  the  transfer 
from  Hawaiian  to  American  flag,  in  its  widest  aspect, 
there  will  be  a  return  in  a  later  chapter  wherein  the 
Chinese  in  Hawaii  will  be  discussed  somewhat  fully. 
The  Japanese,  who  for  a  long  time  had  been  forbidden 
by  their  government  to  emigrate  to  Hawaii,  or  any- 
where else,  had  been  relieved  from  this  prohibition 
and  had  been  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers.  This, 
too,  is  a  subject  which  deserves  a  special  chapter. 

It  would  be  deliberate  shutting  of  the  eyes  to  facts 
to  say  that  Great  Britain  was  pleased  with  the  increas- 
ing strength  of  American  influence  in  Hawaii  and 
looked  with  satisfaction  upon  the  plan  to  cede  the 
islands  to  the  United  States.  Britons  and  Americans 
were  often  found  to  be  working  harmoniously  together 
in  efforts  to  develop  wisely  (and  rarely  entirely  selfishly) 
the  material  resources  of  the  kingdom  and  later  repub- 
lic, as  well  as  to  elevate  the  social  and  moral  status  of 
the  natives. 

Politically,  however,  there  was  always  more  or  less 
jealousy.  This,  all  the  circumstances  being  duly  con- 
sidered, can  hardly  be  wondered  at  when  we  bear  in 
mind  the  fact  that  it  was  EngHshmen  who  re-discovered 


I02  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

the  islands  and,  by  giving  them  the  name  of  "Sand- 
wich," seemed  to  assert  a  certain  right  to  them. 

Furthermore,  it  was  EngKshmen's  influence  that 
gave  the  first  impetus  to  the  modern  development  of 
islands  and  people.  It  was  but  natural  that  they 
should  consider  themselves  as  having  a  certain  right  of 
monopoly.  The  disposition  of  the  royal  house,  after 
its  members  came  to  have  real  knowledge  of  the  Chris- 
tian reHgion,  was  rather  towards  the  Church  of  England 
than  towards  the  non-ritual  (non-conformist  or  dis- 
senting, the  English  called  it)  service  which  the  earliest 
American  missionaries  followed.  This  again  seemed 
to  strengthen  the  proscriptive  rights  of  the  British. 

There  is  yet  one  more  very  important  point  to  con- 
sider. An  examination  of  the  map  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  shows  that  a  straight  line  from  Cape  Flat- 
tery, at  the  entrance  to  the  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca 
(Washington  and  Vancouver  Island),  to  Sydney, 
Austraha,  very  nearly  passes  through  Honolulu.  When 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company,  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  opened  its  trans-Pacific  line  of  steamers 
from  Vancouver  to  Hongkong  by  way  of  Yokohama 
and  Shanghai,  it  was  announced  that  very  soon  there 
would  be  another  line  from  Vancouver  to  Sydney, 
calling  at  Honolulu,  and  possibly  other  places  in  the 
South  Pacific. 

Furthermore,  it  was  made  known  to  the  world 
generally  that  the  British  Postmaster  General,  acting 
in  concert  with  the  Canadian  Dominion  Government 
and  the  governments  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand, 
would  before  long  lay  a  submarine   telegraph  cable 


COMING     OF     AMERICAN     RULE       IO3 

from  British  Columbia  to  Australia.  Both  steamship 
line  and  cable  were  to  be  parts  of  the  "All  Red  Route": 
that  is,  under  the  red  or  merchant  flag  of  Great  Britain. 
It  was  at  that  time  contemplated  to  make  some  arrange- 
ment with  the  Hawaiian  government  for  establishing 
a  relay  station  for  that  cable  on  one  of  the  islands. 
The  concession  of  the  bit  of  territory  was  to  be  a  perma- 
nent matter  so  that  the  "Red"  flag  might  fly  there. 

It  is  not  a  wild  thing  to  say  that,  twenty  years 
ago,  there  was  some  apprehension  on  the  part  of 
American  statesmen  lest  Great  Britain  might  secure 
such  ascendancy  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  to  be  more 
than  an  offset  to  American  influence.  This  apprehen- 
sion seems  to  be  a  necessary  condition  for  explaining 
fully  the  resolution  which  was  introduced  in  the  United 
States  Senate  on  May  31,  1894  by  Senator  Turpie,  of 
Indiana.  It  reads:  "Resolved,  that  of  right  it  belongs 
wholly  to  the  people  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  es- 
tablish and  maintain  their  own  form  of  government 
and  domestic  polity;  that  the  United  States  ought  in 
nowise  to  interfere  therewith,  and  that  any  interven- 
tion in  the  political  affairs  of  these  islands  by  another 
government  will  be  regarded  as  an  act  unfriendly  to  the 
United  States."  The  vote  was:  Yeas,  55;  Nays,  o; 
Not  voting,  30.  Whether  this  was  intended  merely  as 
a  rebuke  to  somebody  at  home,  or  officious  Americans 
at  Honolulu,  may  be  decided  at  the  reader's  pleasure. 
It  was  certainly  a  notice  of  "Hands  off!" 

Sundry  causes  operated  to  delay  action  by  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  as  to  the  steamship  line, 
and  the  British  Home  and  Colonial  Governments,  as 


I04  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

to  the  cable  line,  so  that  the  few  years  shpped  away. 
The  ceding  of  the  islands  to  the  United  States  and  the 
acceptance  and  annexation  were  accomplished  facts. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  appropriating  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  by  the  United  States  was  displeasing 
to  the  Canadians  generally. 

Honolulu  continues  to  be  a  port  of  call  for  the  Van- 
couver-Auckland-Sydney steamers;  but  the  submarine 
telegraph  cable  has  to  find  a  relay  station  at  Fanning 
Island,  a  desolate,  lonely  rock  absolutely  away  from 
all  possibility  of  ever  being  on  any  ocean  highway.  If 
only  the  nations  of  the  world  would  dwell  together  in 
peace,  a  much  more  desirable  relay  station  for  the 
British  line  might  be  had  on  one  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands;  but  since  it  is  considered  that  the  greatest 
value  of  that  submarine  cable  is  a  strategic  one,  the 
bare  possibility  of  its  coming  within  the  reach  of  aliens 
must  be  avoided! 

Some  Canadians  frankly  avow  that  their  mother 
government  was  too  slow,  and  let  the  chance  of  secur- 
ing the  Hawaiians  slip  through  her  fingers.  But 
whatever  British  feeling  of  opposition  there  was  for  a 
time  has  pretty  well  passed  away  except  among  the 
prelates  of  the  Church  of  England.  Hawaii,  having 
been  once  a  missionary  diocese  of  that  hierarchy,  the 
disposition  to  adhere  to  the  rule,  "once  a  bishop,  always 
a  bishop,"  operated  for  quite  a  time  to  delay  the  with- 
drawal of  the  English  diocesan,  and  American  com- 
placency and  courtesy  submitted.  The  Englishman 
having  to  go,  however,  for  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
sovereign  head  of  his  church  was  utterly  incompatible 


COMING     OF     AMERICAN    RULE       105 

with  his  exercising  jurisdiction  in  American  territory. 
Although  officially  gone,  the  Church  of  England  is  not 
forgotten,  but  is  still  warmly  beloved.  There  are  yet 
a  goodly  number  of  church  people  who  were  confirmed 
by  the  Anglican  bishop ;  and  through  the  courtesy  that 
ought  always  to  rule  in  such  matters,  but  unhappily 
does  not  consistently  and  invariably  do  so,  there  is 
still  a  service  conducted  as  closely  as  compatible  with 
changed  conditions  according  to  the  English  ritual. 

The  seeming  departure  of  the  United  States  from  its 
traditions  of  confining  itself  to  the  continent  of  North 
America  came  as  a  shock  to  many  statesmen  the  world 
over.  Expansion  having  once  begun,  there  might  be 
no  limits  placed  upon  it;  and  for  that  reason  there  was 
opposition  openly  expressed  in  various  parts  of  the 
world  to  the  annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  In 
some  of  the  European  chancelleries  there  was  a  disposi- 
tion to  call  the  United  States  sharply  to  account  for 
what  was  declared  to  be  a  breach  of  faith.  Through 
the  enunciation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  she  had 
solemnly  warned  European  powers  to  refrain  from 
interference  in  the  politics  of  the  American  hemisphere 
and  not  to  seek  to  acquire  territory  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  Yet  here  she  was  stretching  out  across  the  sea 
to  annex  property  which  in  no  way  appertained  to  the 
American  continent. 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the 
world's  surprise  and  annoyance,  to  read  the  magazines 
and  newspapers  of  1898  and  1899  carefully.  When  to 
that  Hawaiian  expansion  were  added  the  Philippines, 
Guam,   and  Tutuila,  with   the   Manua  group   of   the 


Io6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Samoan  archipelago,  the  world's  statesmen  (including 
a  very  large  number  of  Americans)  loudly  declared 
that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  had  been  rendered  nugatory 
by  the  act  of  its  own  propounder.  There  have  not 
been  wanting  evidences  that  some  of  the  European 
powers  are  quite  willing  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
privilege  which  they  now  declare  is  open  to  them. 

The  omission  of  Porto  Rico  from  the  list  of  the 
United  States'  over-seas  possessions  is  intentional, 
because  it  is  tacitly  agreed  that  the  West  Indies  may 
be  held  to  come  within  her  sphere  of  influence.  Yet 
the  opposition  which  Germany  has  maintained  to  the 
United  States  acquiring  by  purchase  the  Danish  West 
Indian  islands,  Santa  Cruz,  Saint  Thomas,  and  Saint 
John,  indicates  a  disposition  to  prevent,  if  possible, 
further  expansion  of  the  great  American  RepubHc- 
Empire.  So  far  as  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  con- 
cerned, with  the  exception  of  Japan,  the  great  nations 
of  the  world  have  come  to  realise  that  their  administra- 
tion by  the  United  States  removes  what  might  easily 
have  become  a  source  of  trouble. 


CHAPTER  IX 

DEVELOPMENT   UNDER  AMERICAN 
ADMINISTRATION 

SO  great  had  the  preponderance  of  American  in- 
fluence become  throughout  Hawaii,  and  especially 
on  the  islands  of  Oahu  and  Hawaii,  that  in  1898,  when 
the  formal  transfer  of  sovereignty  was  made,  and 
autonomy  merged  in  the  wider  rule  of  the  United  States, 
there  was  really  no  confusion  at  all.  As  to  a  violent 
disruption,  there  was  not  a  trace  of  it.  This  does  not 
mean  that  there  was  no  dissatisfaction:  there  was,  but 
it  was  either  selfish  or  sentimental,  and  in  either  case 
realised  its  own  impotency. 

It  is  well  at  the  very  beginning  of  this  chapter  to 
mention  one  thing  that  might  have  been  done  with 
admirable  effect.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  ces- 
sion, all  government  and  crown  lands  became  abso- 
lutely the  property  of  the  United  States  and  were 
accepted  as  a  part  of  the  public  domain.  It  was  to 
the  revenue  derived  from  those  crown  lands  that  the 
royal  family,  before  deposition  by  the  Republic,  had 
looked  for  their  maintenance;  and  if  the  United  States 
Government  had  recognised  the  equity  of  the  case  by 
making  an  appropriation  for  the  benefit  of  ex-queen 
Liliuokalani,  it  would  have  been  a  gracious  act  and 
one  which  would  have  tended  to  sugar-coat  the  pill 


Io8  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

that  must  have  been  rather  hard  for  the  royal  family 
and  its  supporters  to  swallow. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  rights  of  the  United 
States  in  the  premises.  That  certainty  decided  by  the 
highest  authority,  this  country  stood  upon  its  rights, 
and  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  said;  only  the  cost  of 
a  pleasing  courtesy  would  not  at  all  have  impoverished 
the  treasury  of  a  great  and  rich  country.  When  we 
think  of  the  handsome  revenue  which  the  United 
States  has  received  from  Hawaii,  and  is  still  receiving 
from  the  territory,  it  adds  a  little  poignancy  to  the 
regret  that  at  least  some  consideration  was  not  shown 
to  LiUuokalani  and  her  dependants. 

Upon  taking  possession  of  these  government  and 
crown  lands,  the  United  States  Congress  immediately 
proceeded  to  pass  laws  so  drafted  as  to  offer  every 
inducement  to  settlers  to  acquire  property  as  true, 
permanent  homesteaders.  Every  reasonable  effort 
has  been  made  to  prevent  the  acquiring  of  large  tracts 
for  purely  speculative  purposes,  and  the  success  attend- 
ing this  effort  has  been  gratifying.  Upon  abihty  to 
maintain  this  policy  depends  largely  the  future  of  The 
Coming  Hawaii.  In  this  connection  it  has  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  percentage  of  truly  arable  land  in 
the  entire  territory  is  comparatively  very  small;  and 
it  has  wisely  been  determined  to  secure  for  the  country 
all  possible  benefit  by  a  system  of  long  leases  on  rather 
small  portions  of  this  tillable  land  granted  to  bona  fide 
settlers.  Upon  such  tracts,  experience  has  already 
demonstrated  that  the  improvements  are  greater  and 
of  a  far  more  durable  character  than  upon  the  few  large 


AMERICAN     ADMINISTRATION      109 

sections  which  have  been  secured  by  other  than  agricul- 
turalists; while  their  very  "homeliness"  makes  them  a 
better  asset  than  the  biggest  sugar  or  coffee  plantations. 

From  the  day  when  the  formal  act  of  transfer  was 
accomplished  at  Honolulu,  the  development  of  the 
territory  has  been  truly  remarkable,  and  in  all  respects 
that  progress  has  been  along  Hnes  which  have  con- 
tributed to  individual  as  well  as  territorial  advantage. 
Nor  has  the  benefit  conferred  upon  the  United  States 
been  a  mere  trifle.  Of  the  political  development  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add  anything  to  what  has  already 
been  said.  The  universal  franchise,  to  those  who 
could  and  would  qualify  as  citizens  of  the  territory  and 
therefore  of  the  United  States,  was  accepted  gratefully 
and  its  responsibihties  have  been  borne  with  a  becoming 
dignity,  all  the  conditions  of  a  somewhat  peculiar  case 
being  duly  considered. 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  determine  which  one  of  many 
subjects  should  be  given  precedence  in  discussing  the 
development  of  Hawaii  under  American  rule :  means  of 
communication,  that  is,  railways,  highroads,  ocean- 
going and  inter-island  steamer  lines,  the  postal  service, 
telegraph,  telephone,  etc.;  education;  sanitation,  or 
any  one  of  a  dozen  more,  each  one  of  which  is  deserving 
of  praise.  If  preference  is  given  to  education,  it  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  the  others  are  considered 
merely  of  lesser  importance.  Because  upon  wise  edu- 
cation depends  the  ability  of  the  Hawaiian  citizens 
eventually  to  take  upon  themselves  the  greater 
responsibilities  of  independent  statehood. 

It  must  have  been  noted  that  both  under  the  mon- 


no  THECOMING     HAWAII 

archy  and  the  republic,  pleasing  progress  had  been 
made  in  public  education,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  the 
Hawaiian  people,  old  and  young,  displayed  an  avidity 
for  learning  to  read  and  write.  When,  therefore,  the 
territory  came  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  as  it  would 
naturally  do,  it  was  necessary  only  to  build  broader 
upon  a  fairly  good  and  substantial  foundation  that  had 
already  been  laid.  This  was  done  with  gratifying  and 
encouraging  results.  But  the  school  year  of  191 1- 
1912  (July  I,  1911  to  June  30,  1912)  marked  a  new  era 
in  Hawaii's  educational  experience.  On  the  eleventh 
day  of  April,  191 1,  the  territorial  legislature  passed  an 
act,  immediately  signed  by  the  governor,  providing  for 
a  new  method  of  financing  the  public  schools.  Provi- 
sion was  made  for  the  payment  of  the  salaries  of  all 
teachers,  supervisors  of  schools,  and  principals,  upon  a 
classification  which  was  based  upon  teachers'  certifi- 
cates and  length  of  service.  This  law  provided  also 
that  the  total  number  of  teachers,  including  super- 
visors and  principals,  who  may  be  constantly  employed 
in  any  one  year,  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty- 
five  pupils  enrolled  during  the  preceding  year,  and 
that  the  total  payroll  shall  not  exceed  forty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  per  month,  plus  fifty  dollars  added  for 
every  thirty-five  children  of  school  age  added  to  the 
enrolment  of  the  public  schools  after  June  30,  191 1. 
One  serious  objection  is  to  be  raised  to  this  apportion- 
ment of  one  teacher  only  to  every  thirty-five  pupils  in 
the  public  schools:  if  means  permitted,  the  ratio  should 
not  be  more  than  one  to  twenty. 


AMERICAN     ADMINISTRATION       III 

The  general  expenses  of  the  Hawaiian  Department 
of  Public  Instruction  (which  also  exercises  a  certain 
supervision  over  all  private  and  even  denominational 
religious  schools  and  colleges),  including  salaries,  the 
construction  and  equipment  of  new  buildings,  and  all 
other  direct  as  well  as  contingent  expenses,  are  pro- 
vided for  by  budget  estimate  and  special  appropriation. 
The  administration  of  the  public  schools  is  almost 
entirely  centralised  in  this  department,  the  personnel  of 
which  comprises  the  superintendent  and  six  commis- 
sioners, appointed  from  the  four  counties  into  which 
the  islands  are  divided  politically.  These  are:  first, 
the  island  of  Hawaii;  second,  the  islands  of  Maui, 
Molokai,  Lanai,  and  Kahoolawa  (called  Maui  County) ; 
third,  the  island  of  Oahu;  fourth,  the  islands  of  Kauai 
and  Niihau  (called  Kauai  County).  The  counties  are 
the  senatorial  districts  of  the  territory.  The  superin- 
tendent and  commissioners  are  appointed  by  the 
governor  with  the  consent  of  the  territorial  senate. 
The  only  function  connected  with  the  public  schools 
that  is  exercised  by  the  local,  or  county,  governments 
is  the  maintenance  of  the  school  buildings  and 
grounds. 

The  course  of  study  in  the  high  schools,  two  in  num- 
ber, extends  through  four  years,  as  does  that  of  the 
normal  school.  During  the  school  year  of  1911-1912 
a  summer  school  for  the  special  benefit  of  public 
school  teachers  was  held  at  the  normal  school,  Hono- 
lulu, for  a  term  of  six  weeks.  There  was  a  total 
attendance  of  one  hundred  and  twelve;  of  whom 
eighty-three  took  instruction  in  the  course  that  fitted 


112  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

them  to  secure  certificates  as  teachers  in  the  primary 
grade;  and  twenty  for  the  grammar  school  grade 
certificates. 

Attendance  at  either  a  public  or  a  private  school  is 
obligatory  for  all  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and 
seventeen  years.  In  191 2  the  public  school  system 
comprised  the  Territorial  Normal  School  at  Honolulu; 
two  High  Schools,  one  at  Honolulu,  the  other  at  Hilo, 
Hawaii  Island;  three  Industrial  Schools,  two  of  which 
are  for  boys  and  girls,  respectively,  who  have  been  com- 
mitted to  them  by  the  juvenile  courts  for  misdemean- 
our; and  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  schools  of  the 
primary  and  grammar  grades.  The  total  enrolment 
in  these  public  schools  was  23,752,  of  which  number 
12,965  were  boys  and  10,787  were  girls.  This  total 
showed  an  increase  of  3,155,  or  more  than  fifteen  per 
cent  over  the  preceding  year.  The  average  attendance 
in  these  schools  was  eighty-six  per  cent  of  the  enrol- 
ment. Of  the  total  enrolment,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  pupils  were  in  the  Normal  School,  two  hundred  and 
forty-nine  in  the  High  Schools,  three  hundred  and  five 
in  the  Eighth  Grade,  four  hundred  and  thirty-four  in 
the  Seventh  Grade,  eight  hundred  and  three  in  the 
Sixth  Grade,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-nine 
in  the  Fifth  Grade,  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
forty-one  in  the  Fourth  Grade,  three  thousand  three 
hundred  and  twenty-five  in  the  Third  Grade,  four 
thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy  in  the  Second 
Grade,  and  nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three  in 
the  First  Grade.  The  full  bearing  of  this  statement  of 
attendance  is  not  to  be  clearly  comprehended  unless 


I 


AMERICAN    ADMINISTRATION      II3 

one  considers  that  the  total  population  of  the  territory 
was,  at  that  same  time,  only  about  one  hundred  and 
ninety-four  thousand. 

Excluding  the  normal  school,  it  was  found  that 
forty-one  and  one-half  per  cent  of  all  public  school 
pupils  were  enrolled  in  the  first  grade.  It  must  be 
remembered,  should  this  last  statement  seem  to  be 
rather  unsatisfactory,  that  the  existing  graded  system 
has  not  been  in  force  in  the  territory  for  a  very  long 
period.  Furthermore,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  old  tendency,  among  the  native  Hawaiians,  to  leave 
school  as  soon  as  the  rudiments  of  an  education  had 
been  secured  still  persists,  as  does  the  disposition  with 
parents  to  let  their  children  discontinue  their  education 
as  soon  as  they  have  reached  the  limit  of  the  obligatory 
period.  For  this  latter  reason,  there  is  some  justifica- 
tion in  the  necessity  for  earning  a  livelihood  in  order 
to  contribute  towards  the  family's  support.  These 
same  remarks  apply  to  the  children  of  Asiatics  as  well 
as  to  the  Portuguese. 

There  was  expended,  during  the  school  year  of  191 1- 
1912,  for  public  schools,  the  sum  of  $722,912.57,  of 
which  $92,577.92  was  for  new  buildings.  The  total 
cost  per  pupil  was  $30.43.  In  addition  to  the  public 
schools,  there  were  fifty-one  private  schools  in  the 
territory,  ranging  from  kindergartens  to  colleges,  and 
from  purely  secular  to  strictly  denominational  (reli- 
gious) educational  institutions.  These  had  an  enrol- 
ment of  6157  pupils;  3270  boys  and  2887  girls  All 
of  these  institutions,  whether  secular  or  rehgious, 
are  required  to  obtain  permits  from  the  Department 


114 


THE     COMING    HAWAII 


of  Public  Instruction,  and  to  supply  statistical  informa- 
tion in  conformity  with  law. 

The  thoroughly  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  schools 
in  Hawaii  Territory  is  shown  illuminatingly  by  the 
following  classification  of  teachers  and  pupils  by 
nationaHties : 

Teachers  and  Pupils  in  Hawaiian  Schools 


Teachers 

Pupils 

Public 

Private 

Totals 

Public 

Private 

Totals 

schools 

schools 

schools 

schools 

Hawaiian 

68 

IS 

83 

3453 

800 

4253 

Part  Hawaiian 

163 

20 

183 

2765 

1310 

4075 

American 

222 

204 

426 

459 

710 

1169 

British 

387 

10 

47 

85 

S2 

137 

German 

6 

9 

IS 

179 

129 

308 

Portuguese 

47 

10 

S7 

4214 

1117 

5331 

Japanese 

3 

9 

12 

8368 

930 

9298 

Chinese 

23 

7 

30 

2471 

801 

3272 

Porto  Rican 

— 

— 

— 

510 

68 

578 

Korean 

— 

3 

3 

274 

119 

393 

Others 

13 

13 

26 

974 

121 

109s 

Grand  Totals 

582 

300 

882 

23752 

6157 

29909 

The  number  of  the  Japanese  pupils  increased  from 
1352  in  1900  to  9298  in  191 2;  and  they  now  form  more 
than  thirty-one  per  cent  of  the  total  school  enrolment 
in  Hawaii;  whereas  in  1900  they  constituted  less  than 
nine  per  cent  of  the  entire  enrolment.  This  informa- 
tion merits  the  careful  attention  of  all  readers,  for 
obvious  reasons. 

Mention  should  be  made  just  here  of  the  College  of 
Hawaii,  at  Honolulu,  upon  which  the  sanguine  educa- 


AMERICAN     ADMINISTRATION       II5 

tionalists  and  hopeful  citizens  look  as  the  nucleus  of  a 
future  Territorial  University.  It  now  has  a  new 
building  of  re-enforced  concrete,  which  cost  $66,500, 
and  is  equipped  with  a  faculty  of  competent  instructors. 
Statistics  as  to  the  enrolment,  courses  of  study,  and 
other  details,  are,  unfortunately,  not  available  at  this 
moment.  Note  should  be  made,  too,  of  a  public 
Hbrary,  also  at  the  territorial  capital,  towards  which 
Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  gave  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  By  act  of  the  territorial  legislature  this 
establishment  will  have  an  income  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  will  contain,  when  opened,  more  than 
twenty  thousand  volumes,  including  the  important 
collections  of  the  Hawaiian  Historical  Society.  As 
a  source  for  historical  and  sociological  research  for 
future  students  this  library  will  be   invaluable. 

It  was  claimed  for  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  that  a 
few  years  ago  there  was  a  smaller  percentage  of  iUiter- 
ates  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  than  there 
was  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  It  must  be  em- 
phasised, however,  that  this  estimate  excluded  all 
Orientals.  That  education  is  now  in  a  very  satisfac- 
tory condition  throughout  the  territory,  scarcely  needs 
to  be  afiirmed.  It  is,  furthermore,  hardly  necessary  to 
state  that  the  statistical  information  given  here  is  taken 
from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Hon.  P.  P.  Claxton, 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  year 
1911-1912;  although  much  of  the  information  has  been 
confirmed  by  this  author's  personal  observations. 

For  several  years  past  the  prosperity  of  the  islands 
has  been  most  gratifying  to  all  who  take  an  interest  in 


Il6  THE    COMING    HAWAII 

our  first  over-seas  possessions.  Crops  have  been 
large  and  the  prices  secured  by  agriculturalists  were 
good;  new  industries  have  been  undertaken  and  old 
ones  instilled  with  fresh  Hfe  that  has  induced  great 
expansion.  The  total  value  of  all  imports  and  exports 
for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  191 2  was  over  eighty- 
four  million  dollars.  These  figures  do  not  include 
specie,  the  imports  and  exports  of  which  amounted 
to  very  nearly  two  million  dollars.  The  customs 
receipts  were  over  one  milfion  six  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  dollars,  of  which  sum  the  import  duties  were 
$1,601,825.76.  For  the  same  fiscal  year  the  surplus 
of  receipts  over  disbursements  was  upwards  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  sum  was 
remitted  to  the  United  States  Treasury. 

About  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  volume  of  imports 
and  exports  represents  direct  trade  between  the  terri- 
tory and  the  United  States  proper.  Practically  all  of 
this  was  carried  in  American  vessels,  as  must  be  the 
case  under  existing  Customs  regulations;  for  the  voy- 
age to  and  from  the  islands,  as  relates  to  a  United 
States  port,  is  considered  a  coastwise  one,  and  by 
the  navigation  laws  of  the  United  States  only  vessels 
flying  the  American  flag  and  having  an  American 
register  are  permitted  to  engage  in  our  coastwise  trade. 
It  may  be  stated,  as  a  matter  of  interesting  information, 
that  the  laws  are  so  construed  as  to  forbid  of  a  vessel 
under  any  other  flag  from  engaging  in  trade  between 
any  Atlantic  coast  port  and  any  Pacific  port,  even 
when  the  voyage  is  made  round  Cape  Horn  or  through 
the  Straits  of  Magellan. 


AMERICAN     ADMINISTRATION       II7 

Strictly  speaking,  passengers  are  not  allowed  to 
embark  (as  their  initial  point)  on  any  of  the  steamers 
of  other  countries  than  the  United  States  to  the  islands 
or  from  them  to  the  mainland.  Passengers  booked 
through  to  the  Orient  may  ''stop  over"  at  Honolulu, 
and  subsequently  resume  their  voyage  by  any  steamer 
they  may  select.  Such  through  passengers  from  the 
Orient,  holding  tickets  to,  let  us  say,  San  Francisco, 
who  wish  to  remain  for  a  time  in  the  islands,  were, 
when  the  territory  first  came  under  American  adminis- 
tration, required,  by  a  strict  interpretation  of  the 
United  States  coastwise  traffic  laws,  to  re-embark  on 
an  American  steamer  only;  but  this  strictness  was 
found  to  work  a  hardship  in  many  cases,  so  that  some 
consideration  is  now  shown  in  this  matter,  at  least  to 
American  citizens.  Such  passengers  must  be  very 
careful,  however,  to  have  their  luggage  which  is  not 
required  in  their  cabins  sealed  by  the  Customs  officials 
at  Honolulu,  or  it  will  be  subjected  to  an  additional 
and  very  rigid  inspection  at  San  Francisco. 

The  bonded  indebtedness,  territorial  four  per  cent 
bonds  which  were  readily  floated  at  a  slightly  higher 
price  than  par,  was  $5,454,000,  or  three  and  eight  one- 
hundredths  per  cent  of  the  assessed  value  of  real  prop- 
erty. A  portion  of  this  indebtedness  had  been  incurred 
for  county  developments  and  improvements.  During 
the  fiscal  year  of  1911-1912,  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  homesteads,  or  more  than  twice  as  many  as  in 
any  preceding  year,  were  taken  up,  notwithstanding 
the  present  stringent  provisions  of  the  amendments  of 
the  organic  act  to  secure  genuine  homesteading.     The 


Il8  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

percentage  of  homesteads  taken  by  Americans  and  other 
Caucasians  was  larger  during  that  year  than  usual. 
Complete  returns  have  not  yet  been  made  up;  but  it 
is  confidently  expected  that  homestead  statistics  for 
the  year  1912-1913  will  show  even  more  pleasing 
results.  The  territorial  government  has  estabUshed 
a  marketing  bureau  for  the  benefit  of  those  specifically 
interested,  and  in  their  behalf,  particularly,  additional 
demonstration  and  experimental  farms  have  been 
operated.  In  addition  to  these  manifest  aids,  some 
progress  in  other  ways  has  been  made  towards  putting 
homesteading  on  a  more  satisfactory  basis. 

Besides  the  railway  development,  transportation 
facilities  have  been  greatly  and  continuously  improved 
during  American  rule.  During  one  year  alone,  ten 
large  ocean-going  steamships  were  built,  and  several 
sturdy  new  boats  added  to  the  fleet  for  inter-island 
trafiic.  It  must  be  remembered  that  for  all  intents 
and  purposes  this  navigation  between  the  islands  is 
actually  ocean  work.  Except  on  the  sheltered  lee- 
coasts,  the  vessel  is  exposed  to  very  heavy  weather, 
and  these  craft,  even  if  they  are  small,  must  be 
staunch  and  seaworthy.  In  several  harbours  the  con- 
struction of  breakwaters  and  dredging  have  been 
carried  on,  greatly  adding  to  the  facilities  for  foreign 
and  domestic  intercourse. 

It  will  hardly  be  expected  that  steam  railways  figure 
conspicuously  in  faciHties  for  communication;  yet  there 
are  already  several  hundred  miles,  in  the  aggregate, 
of  narrow  gauge  lines,  and  on  the  island  of  Hawaii,  one 
of  standard  (four  feet  eight  and  one  half  inches)  gauge. 


AMERICAN    ADMINISTRATION       IIQ 

This  last  will,  before  long,  have  something  like  one 
hundred  miles  in  main  line  and  feeders.  Besides  sub- 
marine cables  eastward  to  the  American  continent  and 
westward  to  the  Philippine  Islands  and  Japan,  the 
territory  is  now  in  communication  with  the  Pacific 
Coast  by  means  of  wireless  telegraphy  and,  by  the 
time  this  book  is  in  the  hands  of  readers,  the  same 
facility  will  be  furnished  to  Japan.  All  the  important 
islands  have  had  wireless  stations  for  some  time. 

Great  attention  has  been  given  to  public  works  of 
utihty  and  sanitation,  mainly  roads,  water  supply, 
sewerage  systems,  wharves  and  harbours,  school  build- 
ings, and  other  pubUc  edifices.  Consistently,  since  the 
transfer  of  sovereignty,  the  utmost  attention  has  been 
given  to  the  pubHc  health;  that  is  one  of  the  broadest 
subjects  with  which  the  territorial  government  has  to 
do.  In  the  year  191 2,  a  most  vigorous  campaign  was 
waged  against  the  mosquito,  because  of  the  first  and 
only  case  of  yellow  fever  that  had,  until  then,  occurred 
in  the  islands.  It  had  been  thought  that  the  indige- 
nous mosquitoes  did  not  include  the  dreaded  Stegomyia 
fasciata,  the  yellow  fever  mosquito;  but  indications 
seem  to  point  to  the  contrary,  or  else  this  insect  has 
been  introduced  from  Central  America.  Up  to  the 
time  of  writing  this  there  has  been  no  recrudescence  of 
this  terrible  disease. 

Furthermore,  both  for  reHef  and  as  a  preventive 
measure,  a  crusade  was  prosecuted  in  the  Hilo  and 
Hamakua  districts,  of  Hawaii  Island,  against  rats 
because  the  bubonic  plague  had  become  endemic  there. 
In  a  smaller  measure  similar  precautions  have  been 


I20  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

taken  elsewhere.  There  will  be  occasion  in  several 
later  chapters  to  refer  specifically  to  some  other  im- 
portant matters  that  have  been  undertaken  or  stimu- 
lated since  the  beginning  of  American  rule.  Yet,  as 
Mr.  Castle  says,  Hawaii  "is  fortunate  in  having  as  the 
backbone  of  its  population  a  force  of  intelligent  citizens 
who  have  loyally  transferred  their  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  but  who  love  their  own  Httle  land  and 
put  its  well-being  above  all  personal  considerations. 
Its  affairs  have  been  wisely  conducted  in  Washington, 
so  that  it  is  justified  in  looking  forward  toward  a  bright 
future,  in  which  it  will  have  its  own  honourable  share 
in  the  progress  of  its  mother  country." 

With  a  number  of  other  competent  observers,  the 
writer  of  this  present  book  was  disposed  to  be  sceptical 
as  to  the  abihty  of  the  United  States  Government  to 
prosecute  successfully  the  serious  task  of  over-seas 
colonial  work;  but  the  results  achieved  during  fifteen 
years  in  Hawaii  have  gone  far  towards  allaying  all 
doubts.  It  is  true  that  America's  task  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  was  not  precisely  one  of  colonising  from  the 
very  foundation  upwards;  and  what  has  been  done 
justifies  the  conviction  that  Americans  share  with 
their  English  cousins  an  ability  to  develop  colonial 
possessions  as  no  other  Caucasian  people,  or  indeed 
any  peoples,  have  yet  done. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  ISLANDS:    DESCRIPTIVE 

THE  author's  first  acquaintance  with  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  their  people  was  attended  with 
a  measure  of  excitement,  interest,  and  gratification 
which  may  be  accepted  as  an  excuse  for  again  intruding 
a  little  personality.  I  left  San  Francisco  in  June, 
1866,  in  a  large  sailing  ship  bound  for  Hongkong. 
The  first  line  of  trans-Pacific  steamers,  that  of  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  (American),  was  not 
opened  until  the  following  year,  and  they  did  not  make 
Honolulu  a  port  of  call  for  many  years  thereafter. 

Our  captain,  hoping  to  get  the  trade  winds  fairly 
strong,  chose  the  southern  route,  and  shaped  his  course 
for  the  "Sandwich  Islands."  That  was  the  only 
name  he  knew  for  the  group,  and  I  think  that,  at  that 
time,  their  proper  name  would  have  puzzled  more 
than  it  would  have  enlightened.  It  turned  out,  how- 
ever, that  our  skipper  made  a  mistake,  because, 
whether  it  was  that  the  season  was  far  advanced  or 
the  conditions  were  unusual,  the  trade  winds  had 
become  very  fight  indeed,  and  we  were  frequently 
becalmed;  so  that  instead  of  making  the  voyage  to 
Hongkong  in  about  forty-five  days,  which  would  have 
been  a  very  good  passage,  or  fifty-five  or  sixty  days,  an 
average  one,  we  were  seventy-seven,  and  when  we  did 


122  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

arrive  the  consignees  had  already  begun  to  talk  with 
the  underwriters  about  collecting  the  insurance. 

Towards  the  last,  the  ship's  bottom  had  become  so 
foul  with  barnacles  and  grass,  that  even  when  the 
wind  was  exceptionally  strong,  the  vessel  could  make 
but  about  seven  miles  an  hour  when  all  sails  were  set 
and  with  "stud'n  sails  alow  and  aloft!"  For  the  first 
fortnight  we  made  a  fairly  good  run,  however,  even 
after  we  had  lost  the  brisk  summer  winds  off  the  Ameri- 
can coast;  and  one  day,  after  the  " sights "  had  been 
worked  out  and  our  position  marked  on  the  chart,  the 
captain  announced  that,  if  all  went  well,  we  ought  to 
see  Oahu  or  Molokai  early  the  next  day. 

I  was  awakened  very  early  in  the  morning  by  the 
sound  of  men's  feet  tramping  heavily  on  deck  over  my 
cabin;  the  crew  were  running  about  and  shouting  to 
one  another  as  if  something  very  unusual  were  happen- 
ing; while  the  sound  of  ropes  being  pulled  rapidly 
through  blocks  added  to  my  conviction  that  it  would 
be  worth  while  to  go  and  see  what  all  the  row  was 
about.  On  reaching  the  deck,  I  saw  the  bold  head- 
land of  Makapuu  Head,  the  extreme  southeastern  end 
of  Oahu  Island,  only  a  mile  or  so  away  towards  the 
west.  The  sea  was  as  calm  as  the  proverbial  mill- 
pond,  the  long,  glassy  swell  making  the  ship  roll  like  a 
log,  because  the  night  wind  had  died  away  and  the 
day  breeze  had  not  yet  begun  to  blow,  for  the  sun  was 
barely  above  the  horizon.  We  seemed  to  be  drifting 
broadside  slowly  but  surely  upon  the  point,  and  all 
hands  had  been  called  on  deck  to  pull  the  yards  this 
way  or  that  in  the  hope  of  catching  a  whiff  of  air 


THE     ISLANDS:    DESCRIPTIVE        I23 

suflficient  to  give  steerage-way.  In  that  way  the 
ship's  head  might  be  turned  towards  the  south,  and 
thus  get  round  the  threatening  headland,  which  was 
each  moment  coming  more  and  more  dangerously 
near.     The  situation  was  getting  to  be  thrilling! 

It  turned  out,  however,  and  very  fortunately  for  us, 
that  the  captain's  alarm  was  entirely  groundless.  The 
wind  refused  persistently  to  come  to  our  aid,  but  when 
the  big  breakers  at  the  foot  of  the  point  were  less  than 
half  a  mile  away,  so  that  we  could  plainly  see  what 
would  happen  to  us  if  we  got  into  them,  the  current 
swept  us  quite  clear  of  them  and,  always  in  deep  blue 
water,  into  Kaiwai  Channel,  between  Oahu  and  Molo- 
kai;  the  latter  island  looming  up  dimly  some  twenty 
odd  miles  to  the  southward.  By  the  time  we  had 
fully  realised  that  all  danger  of  being  wrecked  on 
Makapuu  Head  was  passed,  the  day  breeze  had  begun 
to  blow  from  the  northeast  and  we  sailed  away  merrily 
before  it,  assisted  greatly  by  the  strong  current. 

Our  captain  had  been  to  the  islands  before,  and  he 
expressed  his  surprise  at  the  absence  of  fishing  boats 
from  Kaiwai  Channel,  as  well  as  because  no  visiting 
shore  boats  came  off  to  us.  Just  after  the  man  at  the 
wheel  had  struck  eight  bells,  twelve  o'clock  noon,  we 
heard,  from  the  direction  of  Honolulu,  then  not  very 
far  ahead  of  us,  the  sound  of  cannon,  fired  at  regular 
intervals,  and  we  counted  one  hundred  of  them.  By 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we  were  off  the  entrance  to 
Honolulu  harbour. 

The  ship  did  not  enter,  but  was  merely  hove  to  for 
a  few  hours  off  the  coral  reef.     We  had  expected  to 


124  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

see  plenty  of  shore  craft,  bumboats  with  fresh  fish, 
meats,  fruits,  vegetables,  and  all  kinds  of  knicknacks 
for  sale  or  barter.  But  it  was  the  king's  birthday 
and  everybody  was  making  holiday;  therefore  we  did 
not  see  even  one  boat  to  take  our  letters.  Accordingly 
a  ship's  boat  was  put  overboard  and  manned  by  six 
of  our  sailors,  the  steadiest  of  the  crew  being  selected. 
The  captain  invited  the  one  other  passenger  and 
myself  to  accompany  him,  and  we  were  soon  on  shore 
at  Honolulu. 

After  taking  our  letters  to  the  American  Consulate, 
we  roamed  about  the  streets.  It  was  a  most  interesting 
hour  and  I  very  much  regretted  when  the  captain  said 
we  must  go  back  to  the  ship  and  make  an  offing  before 
the  breeze  died  away.  I  had  already  read  something 
of  the  joyous  Hfe  of  the  Hawaiian  folk,  and  the  experi- 
ences of  that  short  hour  confirmed  the  impression  that 
existence  with  them  was  a  good  deal  of  a  perpetual 
holiday.  We  were  singularly  fortunate  in  seeing  some- 
thing of  old-time  customs  and  costumes  —  as  well  as 
hearing  ancient  songs,  even  if  these  did  not  appeal 
pleasingly  to  us  —  because  the  festivities  of  that  day 
were  not  repeated  many  times. 

We  got  into  our  boat  covered  with  the  leis,  the 
famous  Hawaiian  wreaths  of  flowers,  and  greeted  with 
"Aloha!"  —  the  word  that  means  "welcome,"  or 
"good-bye"  in  turn.  As  we  pushed  off,  we  threw 
back  the  leis,  and  it  was  very  easy  to  say  aloka.  To 
add  to  my  disgust,  we  sailed  off  towards  the  west  and 
by  nightfall  the  Sandwich  Islands  were  out  of  sight 
astern  of  us;    there  we  lay  becalmed  for  nearly  four 


THE   islands:  descriptive      125 

days  that  might  have  been  spent  so  pleasantly  at  Hono- 
lulu. The  captain  kindly  sympathised  with  me,  but 
he  said  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  enter 
the  inner  harbour  or  even  to  anchor  outside,  without 
invalidating  the  insurance  of  his  vessel  and  her  valuable 
cargo.  When  next  I  visited  Honolulu,  it  was  done  in 
a  very  tame,  commonplace  way;  the  steamer,  in  charge 
of  an  expert  native  pilot,  passed  through  the  reef  and 
made  fast  to  the  quay,  down  to  which  we  walked  along 
a  gangplank  (instead  of  scrambling  out  of  a  boat  to 
the  beach)  and  found  any  number  of  small,  open 
barouches,  driven  by  Hawaiians  dressed  pretty  much 
hke  ourselves,  and  speaking  English  quite  well  enough 
to  act  as  guides  wherever  we  chose  to  go.  The  royal 
dynasty  had  given  way  to  a  Republican  government, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  one  of  my  own  countrymen. 
But  the  eternal  hills  were  just  the  same;  and  so  they 
will  continue  to  be  until  another  such  a  mighty  up- 
heaval, as  that  which  caused  them  to  rise  up  from  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  shall  make  them  sink  again 
beneath  the  bright  blue  waters  of  the  Pacific. 

Seismologists  differ  diametrically  in  their  opinions 
as  to  the  course  pursued  by  the  tremendous  volcanic 
disturbance  which  was  undoubtedly  the  origin  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  Some  think  it  passed  from  south- 
east to  northwest:  while  others  hold  to  the  other 
course.  Such  a  discussion  is  interesting  to  the  scien- 
tists only;  it  has  but  Httle,  if  any,  attraction  for  the 
general  reader,  who  is  not  likely  to  care  whether  Hawaii 
Island,  the  most  southeastern  of  the  group,  is  the  oldest 
geologically  or  the  most  recent,  or  Niihau,  the  extreme 


126  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

westernmost  of  the  inhabited  islands,  is  to  outrank 
all  others  in  age.  The  determination  of  the  geological 
age  of  the  islands  is  rendered  extremely  difficult  by 
several  things;  the  most  important  of  them  being, 
doubtless,  the  fact  that  the  oldest  lava  is  hidden  under 
newer  deposits.  Even  if  it  were  practicable  to  examine 
these,  they  would  probably  estabhsh  no  other  fact  so 
clearly  as  that  the  original  seat  of  energy  remains 
unchanged. 

The  layman  is  always  inclined  to  award  seniority  to 
Hawaii  Island,  because  its  size  is  so  much  greater  than 
all  the  rest  combined  and  because  its  physical  conforma- 
tion is  so  overwhelmingly  grand  when  compared  with 
the  others.  We  think  that  from  Hawaii  the  upheaval 
passed  northwest  until,  after  throwing  up  Niihau,  it 
once  more  sank  to  rest  in  the  bed  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  unless,  perchance,  the  same  titanic  action 
found  vent  in  creating  what  we  know  as  the  Japanese 
Islands. 

Whether  oldest  or  youngest,  geologically,  the  great 
island  of  Hawaii  is  of  the  most  importance  in  some 
ways.  As  will  have  been  learnt  from  what  has  already 
been  written  of  Hawaii,  it  is  more  closely  associated 
with  the  native  and  legendary  history,  as  well  as  with 
that  of  the  earliest  modern  times,  than  any  other  unit 
of  the  group.  Here,  the  people's  tradition  states,  was 
the  beginning  of  their  race;  here  was  the  original  home 
of  the  famous  Kamehameha  dynasty;  here  was  the 
abode  of  the  gods  who  were  the  most  feared  and  more 
universally  placated  in  barbaric  times  than  any  others 
of  the  crowded  pantheon;   and  this  is  the  island  which 


THE   islands:  descriptive     127 

gave  its  name  to  kingdom,  republic,  and  territory  of 
Hawaii. 

In  commercial  and  social  importance  Hawaii  Island 
has  been  outstripped  by  one  other  unit,  Oahu;  but  it 
is  more  than  doubtful  if  the  few  remaining  Hawaiians 
of  the  pure  stock,  those  who  still  respect  the  traditions 
of  their  race  —  if  they  do  not  actually  permit  them- 
selves to  be  influenced  by  them  as  they  were  ruled  in 
former  times  —  will  not  confess  to  a  partiality  for 
Hawaii  Island. 

Seen  from  the  sea,  as  one  approaches  from  any 
direction,  its  appearance  is  majestic  and  impressive. 
Its  coasts,  too,  are  quite  dissimilar  to  those  of  the 
other  islands,  being  noticeably  without  coral  reefs. 
This  is  a  serious  drawback  in  at  least  one  very  impor- 
tant respect:  Hawaii  Island  has  not  one  really  good 
harbour  along  all  of  its  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles, 
approximately,  of  coast.  Landing  from  the  steamers 
is  made  at  open  roadsteads,  Kawaihae,  Kailua,  Keala- 
kekua,  Hilo,  Httle  Lanpahoehoe,  or  any  other  of  the 
less  important  places.  Yet  landing  is  not  usually  a 
difficult  or  even  unpleasant  matter  on  the  west  coast, 
except  when  the  very  occasional  west  or  southwest 
gale  is  blowing.  On  the  east  coast,  which  lies  open  to 
the  full  strength  of  the  trade  winds,  there  is  always  a 
heavy  surf,  and  landing  is  effected  only  with  a  display 
of  remarkable  skill  in  handhng  the  boats. 

But  Hawaii's  greatest  lure  for  visitors,  and  natives 
too,  is  its  mighty  mountains,  to  which  we  shall 
return  later.  Tourists  who  are  interested  in  the 
dynastic   history   of    the  archipelago,   and   especially 


128  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

those  who  have  listened  to  the  tales  of  a  royalist, 
will  be  sure  to  visit  the  town  of  Kohala,  near  which 
Kamehameha  I  was  born  and  where  he  passed  the  last 
years  of  his  life.  It  will  be  admitted  that  his  original 
statue,  of  which  that  at  Honolulu  is  a  replica,  properly 
stands  here. 

The  Kona  districts.  North  and  South  Kona,  are 
on  the  western  side  of  the  island  and  protected  from 
the  force  of  the  trade  winds  by  high  mountains.  The 
region  has  a  regular  and  sufficient  rainfall,  and  this 
fact,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fertile  soil,  makes 
it  one  of  the  richest  and  most  productive  sections  in 
the  whole  territory.  Kona's  climate,  too,  has  a  well- 
deserved  reputation  for  mildness  and  geniahty.  The 
Hawaiians  used  to  say:  "People  do  not  die  in  Kona; 
they  simply  shrivel  up  and  blow  away!"  A  good 
many  of  the  old  folks  even  now  give  credulity  to  this 
myth. 

The  development  of  Hawaii  Island  has  been  most 
important;  and  there  are  now  facilities  for  getting 
about,  either  by  short  lines  of  railway  or  by  roads, 
good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  so  that  every  nook  and 
corner  is  accessible.  Hawaii  seems  to  possess  a  pecuUar 
fascination  for  the  Chinese,  for  at  every  town  there  is 
a  considerable  colony  of  these  people;  and  it  has  to  be 
admitted  that  much  of  the  prosperity  is  due  to  their 
labour.  Inasmuch  as  entire  volumes,  of  size  larger 
than  this,  have  been  devoted  to  Hawaii,  it  will  be  under- 
stood that  these  few  lines  give  merely  a  suggestion. 

Maui  Hes  twenty-six  miles  from  Hawaii  by  the 
shortest  stretch  from  Upolu  Point  to  Kaupo,  across 


On  the  Hawaii  Coast 


THE     ISLANDS:    DESCRIPTIVE        I29 

Alenuihaha  Channel.  Many  visitors  consider  that, 
scenically,  Maui  is  quite  the  rival  of  Hawaii;  but 
much  of  this  claim  is  based  upon  the  magnificent  view 
of  the  Hawaii  mountains  in  the  early  morning,  just  after 
sunrise.  Maui's  shape  is  curiously  hke  a  gigantic 
double-bulb  gourd,  such  as  is  so  popular  with  the 
Japanese  for  carrying  their  favourite  sake,  when  they 
go  picnicking  or  "flower- vie  wing."  The  southern  part 
is  formed  round  one  high  mountain,  and  the  northern 
bulb  about  another  peak.  These  two  rough  spheres 
are  connected  by  a  short  neck  or  isthmus.  There  are 
many  attractive  excursions  to  be  made  on  this  island. 

Kahoolawe  and  Lanai  are  two  comparatively  small 
islands,  southwest  and  west  respectively,  from  Maui. 
They  are  both  mountainous,  although  their  peaks  do 
not  rise  to  great  altitudes.  Both  are  rather  poorly 
supplied  with  fresh  water,  Lanai  particularly  so. 
They  are  owned  by  private  individuals,  and  are  princi- 
pally used  as  sheep  ranges:  the  population  is,  there- 
fore, naturally  very  small.  It  is  probable  that 
only  the  enthusiastic  mountain  climber  or  the  ardent 
naturaHst  will  be  likely  to  visit  these  islands. 

Molokai,  eight  miles  northwest  from  Maui  across 
Pailolo  Channel,  is  of  some  size  and  at  one  peak, 
Mauna  Loa,  rich  in  lore,  rises  to  a  height  of  13,650 
feet  above  sea  level.  The  northern  part  of  the  island 
is  very  abrupt  in  its  formation,  with  precipices  ranging 
from  one  thousand  to  four  thousand  feet  in  height, 
and  so  nearly  unscalable  that  it  seems  as  if  Nature  had 
planned  this  for  a  prison.  There  is  a  comparatively 
low  peninsula  which  juts  out  into  the  sea  from  about 


130  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

the  centre  of  this  northern  coast  line.  This  is  separated 
from  the  mainland  of  the  island  by  a  rocky  wall  two 
thousand  feet  in  height.  On  this  peninsula  is  estab- 
lished the  famous  Leper  Settlement. 

The  mention  of  this  brings  to  mind  the  name  of 
Father  Damien,  the  Roman  CathoHc  priest  who  volun- 
tarily gave  his  Hfe  to  care  for  his  unfortunate  fellowmen 
who  were  herded  together  in  this  lonely  place.  He 
was  charged  with  having  contracted  leprosy  through 
his  own  carelessness  and  vice,  and  the  reader  is  recom- 
mended to  read  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  defence  of 
the  noble  priest.* 

There  is  so  much  in  Hawaiian  Hterature,  serious 
and  romantic,  which  is  connected  with  this  settle- 
ment that  one  can  hardly  escape  the  conviction  that 
the  Hawaiian  people  have  paid  dearly  for  civihsation, 
if  leprosy  was  one  of  its  concomitants.  The  leper 
settlement  may  be  reached  from  the  mainland  only 
by  a  steep  and  dangerous  footpath,  which  is  always 
closely  guarded.  The  unfortunate  outcasts  do  some 
agricultural  work  and  pursue  sundry  avocations,  but 
they  are  really  supported  by  the  government.  "The 
settlement  is  very  pretty  as  one  sees  it  from  the  deck 
of  a  steamer  or  looks  down  on  it  from  the  hills,  but  it 
is  a  spot  too  sad  to  be  visited  by  any  but  medical  men, 
who  go  for  the  purpose  of  information.  For  the 
ordinary  traveller  it  is  a  place  to  avoid  as  he  would 
avoid  the  leprosarium  at  Panama  or  anywhere  else."  f 

Kaiwai  Channel,  having  an  average  width  of  twenty- 

*  See  Miss  May  Quinlan's  Damien  of  Molokai,  1909. 
t  Castle,  op.  cit. 


THE     ISLANDS:    DESCRIPTIVE        131 

three  miles,  separates  Molokai  from  Oahu  Island, 
which  is  nearly  due  west  from  the  former.  This  is,  of 
course,  the  most  attractive  island  for  the  casual  visitor, 
because  Honolulu  is  the  centre  of  official,  commercial, 
and  social  life.  The  island  has  the  shape  of  a  rough 
quadrangle,  the  four  sides  facing  the  half-points  of  the 
compass;  that  is,  northeast,  etc.  The  northeast  and 
southwest  coasts  are  backed  by  mountain  ranges;  the 
tallest  peak  is  Mauna  Kaala,  near  the  northwest  point 
of  the  island.  Between  the  ranges  is  a  plain,  varying 
in  altitude,  some  twenty  miles  in  length,  and  in  the 
widest  part  nine  or  ten  miles  across.  The  greater  part 
of  the  coast  is  paralleled  by  coral  reefs  that  are  some- 
times half  a  mile  wide.  Breaks  in  these,  giving  access 
to  the  smooth  lagoons  inside,  provide  Oahu  with  the 
only  two  fairly  good  harbours  of  the  whole  archipelago. 
These  have  been  made  excellent  ones  by  deepening 
the  openings  across  the  coral  reefs.  Pearl  Harbor, 
one  of  them,  having  been  appropriated  by  the  United 
States  Navy  Department  as  a  naval  station,  is  of 
technical  rather  than  general  interest.  Its  social 
importance  is  to  be  considered  later.  Another,  much 
older  coral  formation  than  the  reefs  which  have  been 
mentioned,  in  places  forms  part  of  the  mainland  and  is 
occasionally  as  much  as  one  hundred  feet  high,  thus 
indicating  another  volcanic  upheaval. 

Honolulu  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  surprises  to 
all  new-comers.  Rarely  are  the  preconceived  notions 
of  it  raised  so  high  as  to  be  doomed  to  disappointment 
upon  realisation.  There  is  every  facility  for  making 
the  visitor  comfortable  and  every  disposition  to  make 


132  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

his  stay  enjoyable.  Of  natural  scenery  there  is  a 
superabundance,  and  valley  vies  with  sea  beach  in  hold- 
ing out  charming  attraction:  the  Punch  Bowl,  an  ex- 
tinct crater,  Waikiki  Beach,  a  refined  Coney  Island, 
Diamond  Head,  the  PaH  up  Nuuanu  Valley,  over 
which  the  conquering  Kamehameha  I  drove  the  army 
of  the  king  of  Oahu  to  their  death  after  the  plunge 
down  sixteen  hundred  feet  of  precipice.  The  edge  of 
the  PaU  is  protected  by  a  stout  raihng;  nevertheless  it 
is  a  place  to  be  approached  with  caution,  and  straw 
hats  must  be  held  firmly,  because  the  trade-wind  comes 
up  the  face  of  the  cliff  with  terrific  force. 

There  are  scores  of  places  of  which  the  visitor  will  be 
told  and  to  which  he  will  wish  to  go,  and  they  may  all 
be  reached  by  carriage  or  motor-car  —  for  both  of 
which  conveyances,  it  is  well  to  note,  there  are  fixed 
tariffs  of  charges  that  are  enforced.  The  parks, 
pubUc  buildings,  museums,  schools,  and  other  urban 
attractions  constitute  a  host  in  themselves. 

Before  long  there  will  be  a  railway  quite  round  the 
periphery  of  the  island,  Honolulu  to  Honolulu.  At 
present,  it  goes  west  from  the  city,  skirts  the  south- 
west and  northwest  coasts,  and  a  part  of  the  north- 
east. It  is  now  possible  to  make  the  circuit  of  the 
island  by  motor-car,  and  the  places  at  which  stops 
for  the  night  are  likely  to  be  made  afford  excellent 
accommodations.  The  whole  trip,  only  ninety  miles, 
can  easily  be  made  in  one  day;  but  it  will  be 
attended  by  somewhat  of  a  sacrifice  of  opportunities 
to  see,  which  afterwards  will  be  regretted.  The 
traveller  who  contemplates  a  somewhat  lengthy  stay 


THE     ISLANDS:    DESCRIPTIVE        133 

in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  will  probably  be  more  inter- 
ested in  a  later  chapter  which  is  to  deal  with  social 
life.  What  has  been  said  of  the  literature  discussing 
Hawaii  Island  may  be  repeated  with  emphasis  of  Oahu 
and  Honolulu:  entire  volumes  have  been  given  to  the 
subject. 

Kauai,  sixty-three  miles  west-northwest  from  Oahu, 
is  circular  in  shape,  with  a  maximum  diameter  of 
about  twenty-five  miles.  It  is  very  mountainous,  and 
yet  the  deep  valleys  which  penetrate  the  mountains 
are  so  fertile  and  well  watered  that  agriculture  is  in  a 
thriving  condition.  It  has,  appropriately,  been  given 
the  title  of  "The  Garden  Isle."  There  are  a  number 
of  pleasant  excursions  to  be  made  by  carriage,  in  the 
saddle,  or  on  foot.  The  mountain  climbing  is  men- 
tioned elsewhere. 

The  most  westerly  of  the  inhabited  islands  is  Niihau, 
eighteen  miles  west  by  south  from  Kauai,  and  politi- 
cally a  part  thereof.  It  is  now  a  private  estate  of  some 
sixty  thousand  acres,  mainly  given  up  to  stock  raising, 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs.  It  is  now  but  sparsely 
populated,  the  industries  followed  requiring  the  atten- 
tion of  only  a  few  people;  but  it  was  an  important 
place  in  Cook's  and  Vancouver's  times.  Strangers 
naturally  associate  Niihau  with  the  pretty  chains  of 
tiny  shells  found  on  the  beaches.  These  chains  are 
brought  to  every  steamer  by  peddlers.  The  beautifully 
soft  Niihau  mats  that  used  to  be  a  most  important 
manufacture  have  now  very  nearly  been  discontinued, 
the  material  being  used  for  making  "Panama  Hats." 
While  hats  and  mats  are  still  made  in  considerable 


134  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

quantities  by  the  Hawaiians,  there  never  were  any 
mats  which  equalled  those  made  with  the  rushes  of 
Niihau. 

This  ends  the  Hst  of  islands  that  are  inhabited. 
There  are  a  number  of  detached  rocks;  one  of  them, 
Bird  Island,  is  of  some  size,  whose  bird  Ufe  attracts 
the  naturalist  and  sportsmen,  but  they  need  not  detain 
us  here.  ''Hawaii "  is  used  in  this  book  in  its  restricted 
sense,  and  does  not  include  the  many  islets  which 
reach  out  several  hundred  miles  to  the  northwest  of 
Niihau,  and  are  all  embraced  poUtically  within  "The 
United  States  in  the  Pacific." 


CHAPTER  XI 
TEE  HAWAIIAN  PEOPLE 

INASMUCH  as  the  citizens  of  the  territory  are  well 
known  to  so  many,  and  are  in  every  way  so  attrac- 
tive and  deserving  of  respect,  it  is  but  fair  to  preface 
this  chapter  with  the  statement  that  most  of  it  relates 
to  conditions  of  a  century  ago.  The  fact  that  nothing 
herein  described  is  pertinent  now,  is  as  great  a  tribute 
to  the  development  of  those  citizens  as  anything  which 
could  be  said. 

It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  estimated  population  of  the  Hawaiian 
group  of  islands  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  has  now  shrunk  to  only  about  twenty-five 
thousand  who  can,  with  any  approach  to  accuracy, 
be  called  of  the  pure  Hawaiian  stock;  and  some 
observers,  who  are  rather  pessimistically  inclined, 
declare  that  a  goodly  percentage  of  that  number  show 
distinct  traces  of  mixed  parentage. 

Like  the  aboriginal  (so  far  as  European  visitors  know 
them)  inhabitants  of  nearly  all  the  Pacific  Islands, 
with  whom  the  Hawaiians  are  ethnically  affiliated, 
even  this  small  number  —  not  enough  to  make  a 
small  city  —  is  rapidly  diminishing,  and  it  can  be  but 
a  few  years  until  there  is  no  longer  any  such  thing  as 
an  Hawaiian  of  the  pure  blood. 


136  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

If  Nature  is  still  promoting  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  a  fact  which  cannot  be  disputed,  it  seems  to  be 
an  awkward  commentary  upon  the  advancing  and 
all-conquering  Caucasian  race  that  its  vices  are  largely 
responsible  for  the  disappearance  of  the  Malayo- 
Polynesian  race,  to  which  group  the  Hawaiians  belong, 
wherever  the  Caucasian  has  established  himself  as 
the  dominant  power.  Even  the  virtues  of  the  white 
race  do  not  seem  to  agree  with  those  peoples. 

Inured  as  they  were  to  the  freedom  of  a  savage,  or 
at  least  a  barbaric,  hfe,  the  changes  brought  by  the 
adoption  of  that  which  is  really  good  in  European 
civilisation  have  wrought  havoc  amongst  them.  The 
change  in  the  type  and  construction  of  dwellings; 
the  use  of  complete  costume,  instead  of  going  semi- 
nude;  the  variation  of  custom  in  practically  all  the 
ways  of  life  have  resulted  in  a  steady,  uncheckable 
diminution  of  even  those  few  who  have  succeeded 
in  avoiding  the  dissipation,  vice,  and  carelessness 
that  so  many  of  the  strangers  taught  by  their  example. 

If  the  Hawaiians  are  in  reality  an  offshoot  of  the 
Tahitan  branch  of  that  great  family  to  which  so  many 
of  the  "South  Sea  Islanders"  belong,  their  emigration 
took  place  so  long  ago  that  conspicuous  and  great 
changes  in  certain  details  have  developed.  They 
were  certainly  almost,  we  can  hardly  say  completely, 
isolated  for  a  very  long  time,  and  were  always  without 
any  adjacent  foreign  races  with  whom  they  could  hold 
intercourse;  and  if  the  earliest  students  were  able  to 
speak  of  them  with  a  certain  degree  of  positiveness, 
there  were  some  writers  who  declared  the  Hawaiians 


THE     HAWAIIAN     PEOPLE  137 

were  either  sporadic  or  due  to  influences  from  another 
direction  than  that  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  keen  pleasure  which  ethnologists  derived  from  a 
study  of  an  absolutely  primitive  people,  uncorrupted 
or  unaffected  in  any  way  by  contact  with  outsiders  who 
are  usually  credited  with  being  more  cultured,  is  one 
that  has  long  since  passed  away  —  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  a  few  tribes  in  the  Amazon  valley  of  South 
America  being  admitted.  It  is  now  practically  im- 
possible for  a  traveller  or  student  to  have  the  ex- 
perience which  permits  him  to  tell  such  a  story  as  the 
one  which  describes  the  effort  of  a  Malayo-Polynesian 
to  use  a  knife  and  fork.  Possessing  in  rather  an  ex- 
ceptional degree  the  imitative  trait  of  all  those  people, 
he  wished  to  do  as  the  Europeans  did  at  table.  He 
succeeded  in  first  cutting  off  a  small  morsel  of  meat 
with  the  foreign  knife  and  then  spearing  it  with  the 
fork.  But  when  it  came  to  carrying  the  bit  to  his 
mouth,  old  habit  asserted  itself  irresistibly  and  it  was 
his  hand  that  went  to  his  mouth,  while  the  meat  was 
somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  right  ear! 
The  very  first  Europeans  to  tell  us  of  the  Polynesians 
could  have  the  amusement  of  witnessing  such  exhi- 
bitions of  the  natural  man;  but  there  has  been  no 
repetition  of  such  an  experience  for  many  decades. 

The  Hawaiians  were  properly  described  as  being 
rather  above  the  middle  stature  —  taking  the  average 
height  of  a  man  at  about  five  feet  six  or  seven  inches. 
But  in  accepting  this  statement,  it  must  be  remembered 
how  the  great  difference  in  housing,  manner  of  living, 
food,  and  occupation  tended  to  develop  two  classes 


138  THE    COMING    HAWAII 

that  seemed  almost  to  be  racially  different  from  the 
Europeans.  All  the  people  were  well  formed,  of  good 
proportions,  and  with  fine,  muscular  limbs.  The 
women's  hands  struck  the  strangers  as  being  peculiarly 
small  and  delicate.  The  average  countenance  was 
open  and  the  features  frequently  declared  to  resemble 
those  of  Europeans.  It  is  rather  odd  that  nearly  all 
the  earUest  visitors  considered  the  women  and  girls  to 
be  lacking  in  facial  beauty,  because  recent  travellers 
are  usually  loud  in  their  praises  of  the  charming  physical 
beauty  of  the  younger  Hawaiian  females. 

Amongst  the  upper  classes  there  was  conspicuous  a 
stately  bearing  and  a  graceful  movement  in  walking. 
Even  with  the  common  people  these  traits  were  not 
altogether  lacking,  and  they  are  apparent  at  the 
present  time.  The  hair  was  naturally  black,  but 
Cook  at  once  noticed  —  what  later  observers  con- 
firmed —  that  many  of  the  people,  both  men  and 
women,  were  addicted  to  the  use  of  some  sort  of  hair 
dressing  that  imparted  a  reddish-brown  tint.  The 
complexion  was  naturally  of  an  olive  hue,  although 
sometimes  it  was  reddish-brown.  Even  constant 
exposure  to  the  sun,  which  the  common  people  did  not 
pretend  to  avoid,  and  about  which  the  patricians  were 
seemingly  careless,  does  not  seem  ever  to  have  produced 
the  permanent  black  of  the  negro  race.  Hence  the 
offensive  and  needlessly  wounding  term  ''Sandwich 
Island  niggers,"  that  fell  all  too  frequently  from  the 
lips  of  coarse  strangers,  was  never  even  remotely 
descriptive. 

In   their  emotional   character   the  Hawaiians  were 


THE     HAWAIIAN     PEOPLE  139 

described  as  having  a  good  disposition  and  mild  man- 
ners. The  inherent  tendency  to  pilfer  has  not  been 
completely  eradicated  and  probably  never  will  be. 
They  are  docile  and  as  industrious  as  has  ever  been 
found  with  peoples  of  the  tropics,  to  whom  Nature  has 
been  so  hberal  in  supplying  their  few  wants.  But 
even  the  most  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the  Hawaiians 
cannot  say  they  are  good,  steady  labourers. 

Intellectually  they  were  and  are  of  an  imaginative 
nature  and  conspicuously  fond  of  the  marvellous: 
ghost  stories  still  appeal  to  them  as  strongly  as  they 
do  to  the  ordinary  Chinese  or  every  African  negro. 
They  were  inventive  as  well  as  imitative,  and  showed  a 
tendency  to  adopt  the  manners  and  customs  of  Euro- 
pean life;  yet  no  teacher  has  been  able  to  turn  their 
inventive  genius  to  something  of  practical  value. 

Their  aptitude  in  learning  to  read  and  write  is  con- 
spicuously illustrated  by  the  remarkable  progress 
made  in  the  forty  odd  years  immediately  following  the 
arrival  of  the  first  missionaries  who  gave  their  attention 
to  education.  In  this  aptitude,  however,  it  cannot 
be  said  that  these  people  were  specially  superior  to 
other  peoples  of  their  race.  In  all  this  description  of 
the  Hawaiians,  it  will  be  noticed  that  it  applies  almost 
as  accurately  to  the  other  tribes  or  divisions  of  the 
Malayo-Polynesian  races,  and  clearly  indicates  the 
ethnic  affihation  which  is  claimed. 

It  is  but  right  to  mention  here  that  some  speculators 
have  advanced  the  theory  that  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
were  populated  by  unwilling  adventurers  from  the 
continent  of  North  America;    and  that  inasmuch  as 


I40  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

America  was  originally  peopled  by  wanderers  from 
Europe,  there  is  therefore  an  ethnic  connection  between 
Hawaiians  and  Europeans.  It  was  not  absolutely 
impossible  for  the  frail  canoes  of  prehistoric  times, 
and  such  we  are  justified  in  assuming  them  to  have 
been,  to  make  their  way  across  the  couple  of  thou- 
sand miles  of  open  sea  that  lie  between  North  or 
Central  America  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands;  because 
the  trade-winds  are  steady  from  the  northeast  during 
many  months  of  the  year.  This  is  improbable,  though, 
and  with  the  great  majority  of  observers  we  give  Uttle 
credence  to  this  theory.  SHght  linguistic  resemblances, 
approximation  in  customs,  and  other  accidental  simi- 
larities are  not  sufi&cient  to  establish  the  truth  of  such 
a  proposition. 

Again,  it  seems  impossible  to  accept  another  theory 
that  the  populating  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  came 
about  by  direct  migration  from  the  eastern  shores  of 
middle  Asia,  or  the  outlying  Japanese  Islands.  The 
conviction  appears  to  be  inevitable  that  the  Hawaiian 
people  were  a  consequence  of  a  migration  from  the 
southern  shores  of  Asia  into  and  through  the  East 
Indies,  on  until  it  reached  the  farthest  islands  of  the 
Pacific.  Mr.  Jarves,  who  lived  four  years  in  Hawaii 
and  studied  closely,  says:  "A  New  Zealander  and 
Hawaiian,  though  more  than  four  thousand  miles 
apart,  with  all  the  intermediate  tribes,  are  members  of 
one  family,  and  require  but  a  short  period  to  acquire 
the  faculty  of  a  free  exchange  of  ideas." 

In  the  most  ancient  songs  and  folklore  tales  of  the 
Hawaiians,  some  of  which  have  been  preserved  through 


THE     HAWAIIAN     PEOPLE  I4I 

the  efforts  of  the  very  earliest  foreign  residents,  there 
are  heard  the  names  of  Nuuhwa  (Nukahiva)  and 
Tahuata,  islands  of  the  Marquesas  group;  Upolu  and 
Savaii,  of  Samoa;  Tahiti,  and  several  others  in  the 
same  region.  Besides  the  names  of  islands,  there  may 
be  distinguished  in  those  songs  and  tales  the  names  of 
capes  and  promontories,  as  well  as  of  towns,  Some  of 
those  meU  contain  allusions  to  voyages  which  the 
remote  ancestors  of  the  Hawaiian  people  made  to 
islands  far  away  in  the  West;  and,  what  is  of  greater 
importance  in  this  connection,  the  return  of  the 
adventurers  is  asserted.  Further  than  this  in  the 
discussion  of  the  ethnic  relations  of  the  Hawaiians,  it 
is  not  expedient  to  go. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  very  earliest  observers,  who  had 
the  opportunity  which  came  with  prolonged  residence 
and  intimate  association,  did  not  record  in  detail  the 
home-life,  amusements,  and  daily  occupations  of  the 
Hawaiians,  as  they  saw  them  in  the  years  from  1820 
to  1825;  before  some,  at  least,  of  the  strictly  native 
aspect  had  worn  off,  or  become  so  familiar  as  to  be 
commonplace.  Zeal  in  their  mission  of  evangelising 
and  educating  completely  supplanted  all  thought  of 
ethnology,  and  this  is  to  be  regretted.  We  look  in 
vain  through  the  six  hundred  pages  of  the  Rev.  Hiram 
Bingham's  book  for  just  the  information  that  would  be 
most  valuable. 

The  social  relations  of  this  happy  people  were  not 
always  moral;  and  before  the  Christian  missionaries 
permitted  themselves  to  sit  in  judgment  that  con- 
demned so  completely  as  to  forbid  of  writing  even  the 


142  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

briefest  account,  there  should  have  been  more  considera- 
tion given  to  the  conditions  in  which  the  people  had 
been  brought  up.  In  moraHty,  especially  as  this  re- 
lated to  chastity,  the  Hawaiians  appear  to  have  been 
little  above  the  wild  creatures  who  surrounded  them. 
But  was  not  that  a  natural  condition?  Consequently, 
in  this  respect,  such  relations  were  distinctly  what  we 
call  loose.  Physical  purity  in  his  bride  was  not  re- 
quired by  the  groom,  and  was  not  even  considered  in 
his  case;  yet  there  were  many  well-authenticated 
examples  of  conjugal  fidelity,  after  the  man  and  woman 
had  agreed  to  be  one.  Still,  the  persistency  of  the 
"mother-right,"  that  is,  tracing  kinship  through  the 
female  Hne,  tended  to  show  great  laxity. 

All  classes  were  extravagantly  fond  of  gathering 
together  for  amusement.  They  danced,  either  in 
separate  groups  of  men  and  women,  or  mixed  together. 
They  played  games,  some  of  which,  popular  with 
men  and  lads,  were  decidedly  strenuous.  Pastimes 
and  sports,  however,  will  be  treated  of  in  a  separate 
chapter. 

The  Hawaiians  were  naturally  hospitable  and  this 
trait  has  persisted  even  unto  the  present  day.  No 
matter  how  humble  the  home  might  be,  there  was 
always  something  to  set  before  the  visitor,  and  it 
was  done  with  a  graciousness  that  demonstrated  sin- 
cerity. There  was  nothing  palatial  about  the  abode 
of  kings  or  chiefs;  although  the  interior  equipment 
and  furnishings  often  displayed  taste  and  skill.  The 
dwellings  of  the  common  people  were  mere  hovels 
made    of    straw,    thatched   with   any   one   of    several 


THE     HAWAIIAN     PEOPLE  I43 

leaves  or  grasses  laid  upon  a  light  wooden  frame. 
They  were  low,  small,  and  damp,  and  generally  filthy 
within  and  without. 

Birth  made  it  necessary  for  certain  rites,  most 
of  them  cruel  and  all  superstitious,  to  be  observed. 
After  being  brought  into  the  world  and  nursed  for  a 
time,  if  a  better  loved  puppy  was  not  given  precedence, 
the  children  were  left  pretty  much  to  Nature  to  take 
care  of.  This  was  not  really  so  brutal  as  it  sounds,  for 
in  such  a  perfect  climate  and  amidst  such  an  environ- 
ment, babies  could  be  treated  very  differently  from 
what  is  possible  elsewhere.  Previous  to  marriage, 
there  was  usually  an  exchange  of  presents  between  the 
two  families;  sometimes  the  prospective  groom  alone 
made  the  contracting  gift.  But  there  seems  to  have 
been,  in  general,  too  httle  importance  attached  to  the 
sanctity  of  the  marital  relations. 

Death  was  the  catastrophe  that  was  made  the 
occasion  of  great  demonstration.  In  private  families, 
this  varied  in  character  for  the  head  of  the  household 
down  to  the  humblest  member.  When,  however,  a 
prominent  person  died,  the  ceremonies  observed  were 
barbarous  in  the  extreme.  A  chief's  immediate  fol- 
lowers, as  well  as  many  of  his  serfs,  shaved  their  heads 
or  cut  the  hair  short,  which  was  a  tremendous  sacrifice; 
and  they  knocked  out  some  of  their  front  teeth.  Often 
these  devoted  people  tattooed  their  tongues  in  some- 
what the  same  fashion  as  it  was  customary  to  do  on 
other  parts  of  the  body.  All  this  was  done  to  keep 
ahve  the  memory  of  the  dead  chief.  The  custom  of 
burying  alive  some  of  the  retainers  around  the  tomb 


144  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

has  been  mentioned,  and  its  discontinuance  by  King 
Kamehameha  I  noted. 

When  a  very  high  rank  chieftain  passed  away,  the 
observances  became  a  horrid  saturnalia.  If  law  was 
never  very  strict,  save  in  the  matter  of  offering  inten- 
tional or  accidental  affront  to  king  or  chief,  and  per- 
sonal restraint  not  usually  practised,  on  this  occasion 
all  decency,  law,  and  order  were  set  aside  absolutely. 
The  people,  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  priest 
and  laity,  acted  like  those  possessed  with  devils. 
Property  was  wantonly  destroyed  and  dwelHngs  fired 
merely  to  add  to  the  confusion;  while  gambling,  theft, 
and  murder  were  openly  committed.  No  woman, 
except  the  widows  of  the  deceased,  were  exempt  from 
the  grossest  violation,  and  in  their  state  of  mental 
intoxication,  women  made  no  effort  to  protect  them- 
selves. Happily,  this  state  of  affairs  lasted  but  a  few 
days.  We  do  not  know  of  any  other  country  wherein 
was  a  custom  which  so  entirely  caused  all  moral  and 
legal  restraints  to  be  cast  to  the  winds,  and  invited  the 
evil  passions  to  uncontrolled  riot  and  wanton  de- 
bauchery. The  visitor  to  Hawaii  nowadays  can  with 
difficulty  persuade  himself  that  this  description  could 
have  been  applicable  to  the  ancestors  of  the  natives 
but  Uttle  over  half  a  century  ago. 

For  a  people  who  were  described  as  being  frequently 
in  a  state  of  hostility,  the  natives  of  different  islands  or 
of  different  sections  of  the  same  island  fighting  with 
one  another,  the  Hawaiians  were  not  conspicuously 
well  provided  with  weapons.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
what  they  did  have  they  used  with  tremendous  effect. 


THE     HAWAIIAN    PEOPLE  145 

There  were  spears  or  lances,  clubs,  halberds,  wooden 
daggers,  javelins,  and  slings.  In  the  hand  of  a  power- 
ful native,  the  club  was  a  fearful  weapon;  and  inas- 
much as  the  absence  of  bows  and  arrows  from  the  list 
will  be  noticed,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  a  battle 
usually  meant  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  encounter. 

The  chiefs  were  especially  skilful  in  hurling  the  spear, 
which  might  be  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  in  length; 
and  not  only  that,  but  every  redoubtable  warrior  was 
able  often  to  avoid  a  spear  thrown  at  him,  catch  it, 
and  send  it  back.  It  is  related  of  Kamehameha  I  that 
once  he  gave  an  exhibition  of  his  prowess  in  this  matter 
at  what  was  merely  a  peaceful  entertainment.  He 
landed  from  his  state  canoe,  and  as  he  did  so  the  rules 
of  the  ceremony  required  someone  to  hurl  three  spears 
at  him  in  quick  succession.  This  was  not  done  merely 
in  a  sportive  way,  but  so  seriously  that  had  one  of 
them  found  its  mark,  the  king  would  have  been  killed 
on  the  spot.  He  caught  the  first,  and  with  it  turned 
aside  the  other  two.  Then  sticking  the  first  one  point 
upwards  into  the  ground,  he  walked  quietly  into  the 
house  where  the  feast  was  to  be  held. 

The  probable  reason  for  the  absence  of  the  bow  and 
arrow  was  that  no  suitable  wood  was  to  be  found: 
this,  or  else  the  natives  were  unable  to  shape  the  bow 
properly  with  the  tools  they  had.  Shields  were  not 
used,  principally  because  the  warrior's  pride  forbade 
his  seeking  such  protection  in  a  close  fight.  The 
dagger  was  from  sixteen  inches  to  two  feet  in  length, 
and  often  pointed  at  both  ends;  it  generally  had  a 
lanyard  made  fast  around  the  middle  or  to  the  handle. 


146  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

and  this  tied  to  the  wrist.  The  slings  were  made  of 
human  hair  or  the  elastic  fibre  of  the  cocoanut  husk. 
Supplied  with  smooth,  waterworn  stones  from  a  river's 
bed  or  the  seabeach,  the  sling  was  a  most  effective 
weapon,  because  its  user  could  cast  his  missile  with 
much  force  and  precision  to  a  great  distance. 

It  was  customary  for  the  warrior  to  divest  himself  of 
all  clothing  except  his  breechclout;  although  he  some- 
times bound  up  his  hair  with  a  sort  of  turban  to  keep 
it  from  falling  over  his  face  and  being  an  annoyance. 
There  was  nothing  actually  warlike  about  the  cloaks 
and  helmets  (caps)  which  have  been  described  in  a 
previous  chapter,  because  they  were  worn  merely  for 
effect  and  were  cast  aside  upon  actually  going  into 
battle.  Some  ethnologists  have  contended  for  a  con- 
nection between  the  primitive  Hawaiians  and  the 
ancient  Greeks  because  of  a  similarity  between  these 
caps  and  the  head-covering  of  the  Greek  soldier;  but 
this  likeness  must  be  attributed  to  mere  accident: 
any  person,  in  no  matter  what  part  of  the  world  it 
might  be,  when  making  such  a  thing  would  almost 
of  necessity  be  compelled  to  follow  practically  the 
same  Unes. 

The  legend  of  Kamehameha  I's  famous  mamo, 
feather  war  cloak,  is  given  here  purely  for  entertain- 
ment. It  was  begun  during  the  reign  of  the  tenth  or 
eleventh  generation  of  the  kings  of  Hawaii  Island 
preceding  Kamehameha,  and  it  was  completed  in  the 
time  of  his  father,  KahekiU,  King  of  Maui.  It  must 
be  stated  here  that  there  has  always  been  some  doubt 
about   Kamehameha   I's   paternity.     The   cloak   was 


THE     HAWAIIAN    PEOPLE  147 

four  feet  long  and  measured  eleven  and  one-half  feet 
on  the  hem.  To  a  very  fine  netting,  small  and  delicate 
feathers,  each  less  than  an  inch  in  length,  were  fastened, 
one  by  one.  These  overlapped  each  other  so  smoothly 
as  to  impart  the  effect  of  a  heavy-pile  velvet.  At 
the  hem  the  feathers  were  reversed.  It  was  of  a  bright 
yellow  colour  and  shone  in  the  sunlight  like  burnished 
gold.  The  tiny  Httle  birds  from  which  the  feathers 
were  taken  were  caught  with  a  kind  of  bird-lime,  and 
from  under  each  wing  a  single  feather,  all  of  this 
particular  kind  the  bird  had,  was  taken.  Fifty  or 
sixty  years  ago,  five  of  these  feathers  were  held  to  be 
worth  one  dollar  and  a  half.  When  the  value  of  the 
material  is  considered  and  even  a  conservative  allow- 
ance made  for  labour,  it  will  readily  be  understood 
that  this  item  of  King  Kamehameha  I's  regaha  was 
quite  comparable  with  the  most  costly  gems  in  the 
crown  of  an  European  monarch. 

Although  not  precisely  a  weapon,  some  attention 
should  be  given  here  to  the  war-canoes  of  the  Hawaiians. 
Manned  by  a  great  number  of  strong  paddlers,  these 
were  driven  at  tremendous  speed,  and  in  the  crash  of  im- 
pact the  sharp,  heavy  prows  were  terribly  effective  rams. 

It  seems  quite  appropriate  to  conclude  this  chapter 
with  a  few  words  describing  the  ceremonies  which 
marked  the  end  of  a  war  and  the  return  of  peace.  If 
the  struggle  seemed  to  be  unlikely  to  result  in  absolute 
victory  for  one  side,  overtures  were  made  by  sending 
out  a  "flag  of  truce."  This  was  generally  a  branch 
of  the  ti  plant,*  or  a  young  banana  plant.  If  favour- 
*  Tatsia  terminalis :  varieties  T.  australis  and  T.  indivisa. 


148  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

ably  received  by  the  opponents,  and  this  was  almost 
invariably  done,  the  chiefs  and  priests  from  both  sides 
met  and  arranged  terms  of  peace.  Then  a  pig  was 
killed  and  its  blood  allowed  to  fall  upon  the  ground 
as  a  sign  of  what  would  happen  to  the  party  breaking 
the  compact.  A  wreath  of  flowers  and  scented  grasses 
was  woven  by  the  chiefs  of  both  armies  and  placed  in 
a  temple  as  a  notification  to  the  gods.  Then  followed 
a  feast  with  dancing  and  athletic  sports,  while  heralds 
were  sent  throughout  the  entire  districts  inhabited  by 
the  late  contestants  to  announce  the  termination  of 
hostihties. 


CHAPTER  XII 
MYTHS  AND  LEGENDS 

WHEN  it  is  remembered  that  Hawaii  has  fur- 
nished enough  of  this  interesting  material  to 
fill  several  large  volumes,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  say 
that  this  one  short  chapter  gives  but  an  unsatisfactory 
suggestion  of  what  is  at  the  service  of  students.  Of 
creation  myths  quite  sufficient  has  already  been  said, 
although  many  other  interesting  ones  are  to  be  found. 
It  is  intended  to  give  attention  here  to  some  popular 
folklore  tales  and  such  matters. 

Before  becoming  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  religion,  the  Hawaiian  people  had,  as 
was  but  natural,  the  most  contradictory  ideas  regarding 
the  life  hereafter,  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death. 
That  they  believed  implicitly  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  with  the  exception  to  be  noted  presently, 
is  not  to  be  doubted;  but  whither  it  went  upon  leaving 
the  body  at  dissolution,  they  were  not  agreed;  most 
of  them  declared  frankly  they  did  not  know. 

Some  said  it  went  to  a  place  of  outer  darkness,  Po 
they  called  it,  where  it  was  eventually  destroyed  ab- 
solutely, or  else  it  was  eaten  by  the  demonish  rulers 
of  that  infernal  region.  Others,  and  of  course  the 
propounders  of  both  beliefs  were  priests,  said  there 
were  two  great  regions  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to 


150  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

which  the  souls  of  men  passed  immediately  after  life 
left  the  body. 

To  those  places  the  names  of  Akea  and  Milu  were 
given,  because  those  two,  who  had  in  life  been  very 
bad  kings  ruhng  over  portions  of  Hawaii  Island,  were 
sent  down  to  them  and  there  estabhshed  kingdoms 
which  became  the  hell  of  the  natives.  There  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  usual  association  of  great  fires 
and  the  physical  torture  which  the  ordinary  Inferno 
holds.  Akea  and  Milu  were  in  a  constant  state  of 
pitch  darkness,  and  the  souls  of  those  who  were  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment  there  were  fed 
upon  lizards  and  butterflies;  probably  snakes  would 
have  been  included  in  the  unsavoury  dietary  had  the 
Hawaiians  been  familiar  with  them.  It  is  worth 
noting  how  impossible  it  was  for  those  people  to  con- 
ceive of  even  an  immaterial  soul  existing  without 
material  nourishment. 

Unlike  the  rich  man's  brothers,*  those  spirits  in  the 
Hawaiian  hell  were  sometimes  allowed  to  go  back  to  the 
upper  world  to  carry  warning  messages  to  their  living 
friends.  These  warnings,  it  hardly  need  be  said,  were 
always  given  first  to  the  priests  and  by  them  passed 
on  to  the  designated  person,  upon  proper  remunera- 
tion of  the  intermediary,  and  the  priests  used  them 
for  their  own  material  as  well  as  professional  advantage. 
The  influence  of  the  priests  was  so  great  that  failure 
to  comply  with  these  dreadful  admonitions  was  never 
known. 

All  this  refers  to  the  souls  of  the  common  people 

*  Luke  xvi. 


MYTHS     AND     LEGENDS  I51 

who  could  do  little  in  the  way  of  patronage  for  the 
personal  advantage  of  the  priests.  These  latter  had  a 
much  better  fate  for  the  souls  of  dead  nobles.  They 
were  conducted  by  messengers  from  Kaonohiokala, 
"The  Eye-ball  of  the  Sun,"  to  a  pleasant  place  in  the 
heavens,  where  their  nourishment  was  all  that  the 
Hawaiian  epicure  could  wish.  They,  too,  occasionally 
returned  to  earth  to  admonish  their  descendants  in  the 
administration  of  their  estates;  to  tell  them  when  and 
against  whom  to  declare  war,  and  in  other  important 
ways  to  render  assistance.  It  should  be  noted  that  all 
Hawaiians  of  the  upper  classes  believed  that  a  chief  or 
a  professional  warrior  who  died  a  natural  death  was 
less  favoured  in  the  hereafter  than  was  he  who  came  to 
his  death  by  violence,  and  it  was  deemed  best  of  all  to 
die  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  universality  of  this 
beUef,  Norse,  Asiatic,  African,  American,  will  at  once 
strike  the  ethnologist. 

Pele,  the  fearful  goddess  who  dwelt  in  the  famous 
volcano,  Kilauea,  on  the  eastern  slope  of  Mount  Mauna 
Loa,  Hawaii  Island,  once  had  a  terrific  contest  with 
Kamapuaa,  a  creature  half  man  and  half  hog,  with 
eight  eyes.  This  "Centaur  of  Hawaii"  had  the  calm 
impudence  to  offer  his  addresses  to  Pele  (and  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  this  was  an  amorous  proposal) 
who  scornfully  rejected  the  beast's  overtures,  and 
added  insult  to  injured  feelings  by  calling  him  "a  hog, 
and  the  son  of  a  hog!"  This,  by  the  way,  was  a  term 
considered  to  be  as  surely  provocative  of  trouble  as  is 
the  opprobrious  "Pig-dog"  of  the  Germans,  or  the 
coarser  epithet  in  English  which  reflects  upon  a  man's 


152  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

maternal  progenitor.  Battle  ensued,  and  Pele  fled 
to  her  volcano  home  into  which  Kamapuaa  poured 
such  torrents  of  water  that  the  fires  were  nearly  ex- 
tinguished. But  Pele  and  her  followers  drank  up 
the  water  and  eventually  drove  the  pig-man  away  in 
a  shower  of  fire  and  stones.  It  is  evident  that  a  great 
eruption  of  the  volcano,  during  which  streams  of  lava 
went  pouring  down  into  the  sea,  was  the  origin  of  this 
tale. 

From  the  island  of  Hawaii,  Kamapuaa  went  to  Oahu 
Island,  where  he  stole  the  king's  fowls.  The  monarch 
managed  to  capture  the  thief,  but  he  effected  his  escape 
and  killed  all  the  king's  soldiers  save  one,  whom  he 
sent  back  with  insulting  messages.  The  enraged  king 
summoned  all  his  forces  and  pursued  Kamapuaa,  who, 
with  his  followers,  was  driven  into  a  cul  de  sac  in 
the  mountains,  the  lofty,  perpendicular  sides  of  which 
seemed  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  friends  of  the 
pig-man  to  escape.  Then  Kamapuaa  raised  himself 
upon  his  hind  legs  and  placed  his  fore  feet  on  the  top 
of  a  precipice,  thus  making  a  bridge  up  which  his 
followers  clambered  to  safety,  and  when  all  the  rest 
had  escaped,  the  beast  himself  readily  bounded  to  the 
top  and  followed.  This  tale  was  probably  invented 
to  account  for  the  remarkable  channels  scored  down  the 
steep  face  of  the  rock  at  Hauula,  thirty-two  miles 
northerly  from  Honolulu  by  way  of  Nuuanu  Valley 
and  the  Pali;  but  which  incredulous  whites  believe  to 
have  been  simply  water  courses.  The  worship  of 
Pele  was  faithfully  followed  by  the  Hawaiian  people 
until  the  Christianising  of  the  archipelago  had  been 


MYTHS     AND     LEGENDS  1 53 

accomplished;  but  Kamapuaa  promptly  disappeared 
from  their  cult.  He  is  said  to  have  left  for  foreign 
parts  and  never  returned. 

One  of  the  Hawaiians'  favourite  legends  has  a  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  our  Biblical  story  of  Joseph,  the 
governor  of  Egypt.  The  Hawaiian  hero's  name  was 
Waikelenuiaiku.  His  father,  however,  had  only  ten 
sons  but  he  had  a  daughter.  As  in  Joseph's  case,  the 
marked  preference  which  the  father  showed  for  his 
youngest  son  aroused  the  jealousy  of  his  brothers  who 
came  to  hate  him  so  much  that  they  determined  to 
kill  him,  and  as  a  preliminary  they  threw  him  into  a 
pit.  The  eldest  brother  took  pity  upon  the  boy  and 
determined  to  save  him  if  possible.  So  assisting  him 
to  get  out  of  the  pit,  he  made  Waikelenuiaiku  flee  from 
his  home  country  and  go  into  a  distant  one,  ruled  over 
by  one  King  Kamohoalii.  As  there  were  no  wild  beasts 
upon  whom  to  charge  the  boy's  death,  all  that  the 
Hawaiian  legend  tells  us  is  that  the  brother  reported 
Waikelenuiaiku 's  voluntary  flight. 

Upon  reaching  Kamohoalii 's  country,  the  fugitive 
stranger  was  thrown  into  a  dark  dungeon,  for  what 
reason  the  story  does  not  say,  where  he  had  to 
associate  with  many  others  who  were  imprisoned  for 
various  crimes.  The  boy,  different  from  Joseph, 
told  his  companions  to  dream  and  promised  an  inter- 
pretation of  their  visions.  They  all  dreamt  of  some- 
thing to  eat.  One  saw  a  ripe  ohia,  a  deciduous  fruit 
somewhat  resembling  an  apple,  which  he  ate;  this 
was  held  to  presage  misfortune.  Another  dreamt  of 
a  ripe  banana  and  ate  it;    this  also  was  pronounced 


154  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

unlucky.  A  third  saw  a  hog  in  his  dream,  which  he 
Hkewise  ate,  and  the  interpreter  told  him  it  meant  evil 
for  him.  The  fourth,  and  last,  dreamt  of  the  awa 
plant,  from  the  root  of  which  he  pressed  out  the  sap 
and  made  the  intoxicating  beverage  of  which  all  Ma- 
layo-Polynesians  are  passionately  fond.  This  vision 
was  declared  by  Waikelenuiaiku  to  augur  well.  The 
interpretations  all  turned  out  to  be  correct.  The  first 
three  dreamers  were  taken  from  prison  and  decapi- 
tated; while  the  fourth  was  set  free.  Someone  then 
told  King  Kamohoalii  of  Waikelenuiaiku's  wonderful 
powers.  The  monarch  sent  for  the  lad  and  not  only 
gave  him  his  freedom  but  made  him  one  of  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  kingdom  with  a  large  estate.  The  in- 
fluence of  European  teaching  can  hardly  be  denied, 
and  yet  the  story  is  so  old  that  it  is  extremely  difiicult 
to  trace  that  influence. 

Far  back  in  the  past,  so  the  legend  runs,  the  gods 
took  pity  upon  those  unfortunate  human  beings  who 
were  afflicted  with  disease.  To  be  sure,  the  people 
admitted,  this  was  a  form  of  punishment  inflicted  by 
the  angry  gods  because  of  some  intentional  or  inad- 
vertent affront  to  the  deities  by  the  sufferer.  Yet  there 
were  a  few  kindly  disposed  members  of  the  pantheon, 
and  some  of  them  determined  to  give  relief  to  mankind. 
So  they  made  known  to  one  Koleamoku,  in  a  dream 
that  was  repeated  until  the  lesson  was  learnt,  the  secrets 
and  use  of  medicinal  plants. 

It  is  not  known  who  this  person  was,  but  it  is  assumed 
that  he  was  a  priest.  He  took  into  his  service  as 
apprentices  two  other  men,  and  taught  them  what  the 


MYTHS     AND    LEGENDS  155 

gods  had  imparted  to  himself.  They  became  his 
disciples  and  when  they  died  the  people  declared  they 
had  gone  to  join  the  other  deities.  To  them  the  old- 
time  doctors  addressed  their  prayers,  and  even  unto 
this  day  there  are  a  few  natives  who  prefer  to  pray  to 
these  gods  of  the  healing  art  for  relief  from  their  misery 
rather  than  to  submit  themselves  to  the  care  of  modern 
physicians.  But  is  not  this  true,  also,  of  America  and 
Europe? 

The  old-time  Hawaiian  doctors  were  really  nothing 
more  than  sorcerers,  who  generally  confined  all  knowl- 
edge of  their  art  to  the  male  members  of  their  own 
famihes.  The  profession  being  strictly  hereditary 
was,  of  course,  very  lucrative.  The  sorcerers  were 
called  "men  who  heal  sickness."  They  had  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  the  medicinal  properties  of 
certain  herbs  and  plants;  but  their  injudicious  use  of 
their  materia  medica  often  resulted  in  the  needless 
and  painful  death  of  their  patients.  They  certainly 
depended  more  upon  what  myth  and  legend  told  them 
than  upon  diagnosis,  although  they  did  profess  to  have 
been  taught  by  the  gods  how  to  determine  internal 
disorders  by  signs  upon  the  outer  body.  It  was  con- 
fidently believed  by  all  laymen  that  if  a  man  employed 
one  of  these  "doctors,"  he  was  able  to  cause  his  enemies 
to  suffer  the  most  painful  diseases,  or  even  to  accom- 
plish their  death  without  resorting  to  deliberate  murder. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  "medicine-man" 
who  conferred  this  power  extorted  from  his  patron  an 
enormous  fee.  Since  revenge  is  particularly  sweet  to 
the  savage,  the  sorcerers  found  abundant  employment 


156  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

and  their  influence,  particularly  with  the  lower  classes, 
was  enormous.  The  implicit  confidence  which  the 
deluded  people  had  in  these  quacks  gave  rise  to  in- 
numerable popular  stories  of  mysterious  suffering  and 
even  death. 

The  story  which  passed  from  hamlet  to  hamlet 
immediately  after  the  first  appearance  of  Cook's  party 
deserves  to  be  mentioned  here,  although  it  did  not 
persist  long,  because  it  illustrates  so  forcibly  the 
Hawaiians'  fondness  for  the  wonderful.  It  originated 
on  the  island  of  Kauai,  but  was  soon  carried  to  Oahu, 
and  thence  to  Hawaii  Island.  These  strange  crea- 
tures, the  white  men,  who  had  the  general  appearance 
of  human  beings,  had  loose  skins  which  they  could 
remove  at  pleasure;  this,  of  course,  referred  to  their 
clothing.  They  had  queer,  angular  shaped  heads,  a 
portion  of  which  was  removable;  their  hats  and  caps. 
They  must  be  veritable  gods,  and  of  the  most  dreaded 
description,  because  they  had  volcanoes  in  their 
mouths  that  occasionally  belched  forth  fire  and  smoke; 
their  cigars  and  pipes.  They  had  doors  in  their  sides 
opening  into  cavities  of  the  body,  their  pockets,  into 
which  they  thrust  their  hands  and  drew  forth  anything 
they  might  happen  to  wish,  knives,  bits  of  iron,  beads, 
cloth  (handkerchiefs),  pieces  of  their  own  skin  (gloves), 
and  all  manner  of  things. 

The  great  foreign  ships,  too,  were  described  as 
animated  beings,  because  they  moved  over  the  surface 
of  the  water  without  the  use  of  paddles,  and  of  their 
own  vohtion  spread  their  great  white  wings:  this  was 
the   astonished   savages'   interpretation   of    "sheeting 


MYTHS     AND     LEGENDS  157 

home"  the  sails,  after  the  sailors  had  left  the  yards. 
The  primitive  Hawaiians  were  by  no  means  the  only 
people  who  thought  European  ships  were  endowed 
with  life. 

In  continuation  of  what  has  been  said  in  a  previous 
chapter  of  the  Hawaiian  traditions  relating  to  long 
voyages  to  the  westward,  made  by  their  remote  ances- 
tors, one  of  their  bards  sang  about  the  foreign  countries 
visited  by  one  of  those  venturesome  and  successful 
navigators,  thus:  "The  noisy  sea  and  the  island,  the 
sea  of  burning  coals,  the  azure  blue  sea  of  Kane.  The 
birds  drink  of  the  waters  in  the  red  sea,  in  the  waters 
of  the  green  sea,  never  quiet,  never  falling,  never 
sleeping,  never  very  noisy  is  the  sea  of  the  sacred 
canoes."  Mr.  Abraham  Fornander,  from  whom  this 
is  quoted,  gives  the  legend  in  metrical  form,  and  he 
adds:  "Where  these  red  or  green  or  otherwise  described 
seas  may  have  been  situated  it  is  now  hardly  possible 
to  determine;  but  they  certainly  were  beyond  the  area 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  in  so  far  attest  the  distant 
voyages  of  the  Polynesians  of  this  epoch."  *  There 
are  almost  innumerable  legends  which  dealt  with  those 
interesting  times  of  the  long  voyages  made  by  adven- 
turers, but  not  apparently  for  conquest.  Limitations 
of  space  forbid  giving  any  more  of  them. 

One  of  the  most  entertaining  of  Hawaiian  epics  has 
been  likened  to  the  Rape  of  Helen.  This  is  a  little 
fanciful,  but  the  tale  is  worth  telling,  for  the  story  of 
Hina,  "the  Helen  of  Hawaii,"  is  a  legend  which  is 
instructive  sociologically.     It  is  assumed  that  Pauma- 

*  Fornander,  Abraham,  An  Account  of  the  Polynesian  Race, 


158  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

kua,  the  last  chieftain  to  come  from  Tahiti  as  a  settler, 
arrived  about  1090  a.d.  Many  people  accompanied 
him  and  the  colonists  settled  first  on  Maui,  but  before 
long  his  descendants  were  in  full  possession  of  both 
that  island  and  Hawaii.  Somewhere  about  that  same 
time  a  sorceress,  named  Uli,  had  come  from  Tahiti 
bringing  with  her  a  daughter,  Hina,  reputed  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  woman  in  the  whole  archipelago.  Her 
bright  eyes  shone  Hke  the  stars  of  night;  her  skin  was 
softer  than  the  finest  mamo,  feather-cloak;  through 
the  dusky  tint  of  her  cheeks,  the  warm  blood  flushed 
in  a  ravishing  way,  and  her  hair  fell  in  waves  nearly 
to  the  ground.  A  nephew  of  chief  Paumakua  had 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  this  beauty  for  his  wife. 
She  bore  him  two  sons  and  they  had  lived  happily  and 
affectionately  together  for  several  years  when  trouble 
came  to  them. 

On  the  next  island  north  of  Maui,  Molokai,  lived 
another  powerful  chief  whose  son,  Paulakai,  was  a 
doughty  warrior  and  skilful  navigator.  This  young 
man,  with  a  band  of  kindred  spirits,  established  him- 
self as  an  independent  chieftain  in  the  district  of  Haupu, 
on  the  island  of  Kauai.  He  chose  as  his  camp  a  rocky 
promontory  which  was  defended  naturally  on  three 
sides  by  cliffs,  and  could  be  reached  from  the  mainland 
only  by  passing  along  a  narrow  ridge,  easily  defended. 
From  this  camp  these  warriors,  in  their  hundred  double- 
canoes,  made  attacks  upon  all  the  other  islanders,  and 
carried  off  many  women;  most  of  whom,  it  is  said, 
were  so  graciously  treated  that  they  did  not  wish  to 
return  to  their  native  homes. 


MYTHS     AND     LEGENDS  159 

Of  course,  Paulakai  heard  of  the  beautiful  Hina, 
and  the  stories  told  him  inflamed  his  passion.  But 
not  only  did  he  wish  to  possess  her,  he  had  sworn 
enmity  towards  the  family  of  her  husband;  therefore 
a  desire  for  revenge  intensified  his  feehngs.  Hina's 
home  was  in  the  Hilo  district  of  eastern  Hawaii  Island, 
and  notwithstanding  it  was  a  coast  against  which  the 
trade  winds  perpetually  hurled  the  surf,  he  passed 
many  days  and  nights  paddling  up  and  down  in  a 
canoe,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  carry  off  his  prize. 

One  evening,  in  the  full  of  the  moon,  and  after  the 
sun  had  set,  Hina,  with  her  attendant  women,  came 
to  the  beach  to  swim  in  the  surf.  Then  Paulakai 
swooped  down  upon  the  bathers,  leapt  from  his  boat, 
and  seized  the  princess.  Instantly  his  paddlers  drove 
the  canoe  back  through  the  surf  and  off  to  the  larger 
vessel  that  had  been  lying  in  the  offing.  Hina's  attend- 
ants had  given  the  alarm,  but  before  canoes  could  be 
launched  and  manned,  the  ravisher  and  his  prize  were 
far  on  their  way  to  Haupu.  There,  she  was  installed 
in  apartments  that  were  as  elegant  as  the  time 
and  customs  afforded,  and  given  plenty  of  women 
attendants. 

After  a  long  sleep,  she  thought  carefully  of  her  posi- 
tion and  how  she  should  conduct  herself  towards  her 
captor,  whose  name  and  reputation  she  knew  well, 
and  whose  purpose  she  readily  surmised.  Being  some- 
thing of  a  diplomat,  and  altogether  a  sensible  woman, 
she  decided  that  it  was  useless  to  repine  or  sulk; 
although  during  the  two  days'  voyage  from  Hilo  to 
Haupu  she  had  wept  continuously,  begging  either  to 


l6o  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

be  killed  or  returned  to  her  husband  and  children,  and 
had  eaten  nothing.  She  now  dressed  herself  as  be- 
comingly as  possible,  and  her  prison  afforded  all  she 
needed;  then  she  called  for  food  and  regaled  herself 
sumptuously. 

After  that  she  sent  for  Paulakai,  who  promptly 
came,  expecting  a  stormy  time  with  plenty  of  tears  and 
vituperation  —  for  Hawaiian  women  so  circumstanced 
were  not  then  given  to  picking  their  words.  Hina 
asked  to  be  sent  home;  Paulakai  refused,  and  told  her 
he  had  many  times  gone  by  land  or  from  the  beach*' to 
see  the  wife  of  my  enemy,  the  most  beautiful  woman  in 
all  Hawaiiakea,"  the  native  way  of  expressing  Hawaii 
in  the  broadest  sense,  the  entire  group  of  islands. 
Then  he  concluded  by  saying:  "There  is  no  other 
woman  on  earth  like  you;  and  I  am  quite  different 
from  other  men.  An  alliance  between  us  would  meet 
with  favour  of  the  gods.  But  let  me  assure  you  that 
whether  you  yield  yourself  to  me  or  not,  you  shall  not 
leave  Haupu  until  its  walls  are  destroyed  and  I  have 
perished  in  the  ruins." 

Now,  we  must  remember  the  people  and  the  time. 
There  was  no  special  crime  in  Hina's  accepting  Paula- 
kai's  addresses.  He  was  a  strong,  handsome  man, 
born  of  the  best  stock  in  the  islands,  and  his  words 
flattered  her.  If  Hina  was  something  of  a  diplomat, 
Paulakai  was  a  better  one.  When  the  princess  de- 
clared she  was  a  prisoner,  the  prince  retorted:  "So 
am  I;  yours!"  Kindness  and  faithful  devotion  con- 
quered. Hina  came  to  Hsten  for  her  captor's  footsteps 
and  to  love  the  sound  of  his  voice;   so  she  forgot  that 


MYTHS     AND     LEGENDS  l6l 

she  was  a  prisoner  for  she  became  her  abductor's 
mistress. 

It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  part  of  the  story 
which  tells  us  that  Hina's  lawful  husband  searched  in 
vain  for  her  during  fifteen  years.  When  that  period 
had  passed,  her  sons  —  now  grown  to  be  men  and 
uniting  in  themselves  all  the  best  traits  of  their  father 
and  mother  —  took  an  oath  that  they  would  find  her 
or  solve  the  mystery  of  her  disappearance.  They 
soon  located  her,  and  spies  told  them  of  her  seeming 
contentment  as  well  as  of  the  difficulties  with  which 
they  would  have  to  contend  to  effect  her  re-capture. 
Undaunted,  however,  they  built  a  great  fleet  of  war 
canoes  and  organised  a  huge  army.  Then  they  be- 
sieged the  fortress  of  Haupu;  but  the  defence  was  too 
stout  for  them  to  overcome  and  the  first  assault  was 
repulsed  with  heavy  loss  to  the  army  of  Hina's  legiti- 
mate sons. 

Eventually  the  assailants  were  successful,  and  here 
there  comes  into  the  story  a  reminder  (that  is  all)  of  the 
wooden  horse  of  Troy.  There  was  one  place  where  the 
walls  were  weak,  because  there  it  was  beheved  no 
enemy  could  possibly  come  through  the  narrow  ravine 
in  numbers  sufficient  to  accomphsh  anything.  The 
besiegers  cut  heavy  timbers  in  length  of  the  wall's 
height,  and  made  a  stout  bulkhead  across  the  narrow 
ravine.  Then,  one  wild  stormy  night,  in  the  pitch 
darkness,  this  wooden  wall  was  pushed  right  up  against 
the  fortress,  and  at  daybreak  the  besiegers  poured  in, 
and  victory  was  theirs.  Paulakai  was  struck  in  the 
breast  by  a  javeHn  and  wounded  unto  death;   yet  he 


l62  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

made  a  mighty  effort  and  was  about  to  hurl  his  own 
weapon  at  the  warrior  who  had  struck  him  down; 
but  recognising  Hina's  husband,  he  lowered  his  arm 
exclaiming:  ''I  spare  you;  not  for  your  own  sake,  but 
for  hers!"  Then  he  dropped  dead.  What  he  declared 
should  be,  had  come  to  pass:  the  walls  of  Haupu  were 
destroyed  and  he  had  perished  in  their  ruins.     . 

Hina  was  found  uninjured  and  most  of  the  women 
were  spared,  either  to  be  returned  to  their  native 
homes  or  to  become  prizes  of  war;  but  not  a  single 
man  of  the  garrison  was  permitted  to  live,  and  the 
besiegers  lost  fully  one-half  their  number.  The  tale 
ends  by  saying  that  Hina  was  rejoiced  to  embrace  her 
manly  sons  and  to  greet  her  aged  mother;  yet  naively, 
her  feelings  at  going  back  to  her  lawful  spouse  are  not 
mentioned:  while  we  are  told  that  she  wept  for  her 
dead  lover  who  had  always  been  kindness  itself  to  her, 
and  whose  gentle  voice  had  changed  imprisonment 
into  happy  association,* 

*  My  notes  are  not  altogether  legible,  and  I  have  therefore  taken  the 
liberty  of  making  a  name  for  Hina's  abductor.    J.  K.  G. 


CHAPTER   XIII 
THE  HAWAIIAN  FLORA 

THE  voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Honolulu  is 
rarely  a  rough  one  and  is  never  tedious  for  those 
who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  be  either  immune  entirely 
against  seasickness  or  able  to  get  over  promptly  the 
disagreeable  experience  that  sometimes  precedes  the 
satisfaction  of  "getting  one's  sea-legs."  The  approach 
to  the  islands  from  the  westward  may  have  been  quite 
rough  after  leaving  the  coast  of  Japan,  but  the  days  on 
smooth,  tropical  seas  which  immediately  precede  the 
arrival  at  Honolulu  will  surely  have  brought  even  the 
poorest  sailors  to  the  deck. 

Yet  to  all  passengers,  the  sight  of  the  green  islands 
is  a  relief  and  satisfaction.  As  soon  as  the  steamer 
from  San  Francisco  draws  near  enough  to  either 
Molokai  or  Oahu  to  enable  the  visitor  to  see  distinctly 
the  appearance  of  the  mountains,  hills,  or  beaches,  the 
sight  is  pretty  sure  to  induce  confirmation  of  the  praise 
which  has  led  so  many  writers  to  call  this  group  "The 
Paradise  of  the  Pacific." 

It  is  of  the  natural  and  indigenous  plant  life  that 
this  chapter  will  specifically  treat.  The  introduction 
of  exotic  plants  for  domestic  or  industrial  purposes, 
and  the  contributions  of  the  flora  to  practical  agricul- 
ture are  subjects  reserved  for  a  later  chapter.     The 


164  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

native  flora  is  almost  unique,  as  is  to  be  expected  when 
we  remember  the  isolated  position  of  the  archipelago. 
There  is  no  land  sufficiently  near  to  have  exerted 
appreciable  influence  upon  plant  life;  and  inasmuch 
as  the  continent  of  North  America  is  more  than  two 
thousand  miles  away  to  windward,  so  that  it  is  almost 
(yet  not  absolutely,  perhaps)  impossible  for  seeds  to 
have  been  carried  by  the  wind,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  number  of  plants  peculiar  to  this  restricted  area  is 
greater  than  has  been  noted  in  other  places  of  com- 
parable size  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Then,  too,  the  physical  conformation,  lofty  moun- 
tains, interior  valleys,  coastal  lands  determining  a 
great  range  of  temperature  and  meteorological  condi- 
tions, has  contributed  surprisingly  to  the  multipUcation 
of  species.  A  short  time  ago,  Dr.  William  Hillebrand, 
a  German  physician  who  lived  for  some  twenty  years 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  who  was  entirely  com- 
petent to  make  such  observations,  found  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  genera  and  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  species,  of  which  latter  number  six  hundred  and 
fifty-three  were  peculiar  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.* 

Putting  aside  personal  opinion  and  yielding  to  the 
superior  knowledge  of  others,  it  is  admitted  that 
Niihau,  Kauai,  and  Oahu  are,  geologically,  the  oldest 
units  of  the  archipelago;  it  is  therefore  but  natural  to 
find  the  greatest  number  of  plant  species  on  these 
islands.  This  natural  fecundity  has  been  rapidly 
increased  in  less  than  a  century  by  the  introduction, 

*  Flora  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Annotated  by  Prof.  William  Francis 
Hillebrand. 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FLORA  165 

either  intentional  or  accidental,  of  many  plants  which 
were  exotic,  although  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of 
the  newer  varieties  are  merely  developments  from 
indigenous  plants,  the  transformation  having  been 
brought  about  by  varying  domestic  conditions.  It  is 
noticed,  however,  that  very  few  of  these  strange 
developments  are  of  any  practical  value. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  among  the  many 
dicotyledonous  (a  botanical  term  denoting  those 
flowering  plants  which  have  two  cotyledons,  or  seed- 
lobes)  plants,  there  is  not  a  single  annual;  a  large 
majority  of  these  plants,  many  of  them  bearing  flowers 
of  exquisite  beauty,  are  perennial  and  very  woody. 

Considering  first  the  arborescent  division  of  the 
flora,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the  Hawaiian 
forests  are  essentially  tropical;  lying  between  the 
eighteenth  and  twenty-third  parallels  of  latitude,  and 
right  in  the  pathway  of  the  mild,  moisture-laden 
trade  winds,  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise.  Still  this 
statement  does  not  mean  that  there  are  no  trees  upon 
the  higher  lands  which  are  at  least  approximations 
to  those  of  the  temperate  zones.  But  the  forest  trees 
are  usually  under  the  medium  height,  as  we  find  similar 
trees  elsewhere. 

Inasmuch  as  the  islands  are  within  the  tropics,  it  is 
not  remarkable  that  trees  of  the  character  now  being 
considered  —  that  is  of,  at  least,  some  value  as  lumber 
—  are  seldom  found  at  a  lower  altitude  than  two 
thousand  feet;  while  above  eight  thousand  feet  the 
trees  are  always  small  and  of  no  great  economic  value. 
On  the  islands  of  Hawaii  and  Maui  there  are  still  ex- 


l66  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

tensive  forests  of  Koa  trees  {Acacia  koa)  which  furnish 
valuable  lumber,  used  domestically  as  well  as  exported 
as  "Hawaiian  mahogany,"  although  it  is  not  true 
mahogany  {Swietenia  Mahogani)  at  all.  Parentheti- 
cally, it  may  be  mentioned  here  that  as  a  matter  of 
fact  very  little  true  mahogany  is  now  found  in  our 
lumber  yards.  Most  of  that  which  is  sold  as  mahogany 
is  cut  from  one  of  the  numerous  Cedrelas  (they  are 
not  conifers),  and  especially  from  the  so-called  Jamaica 
red  cedar,  cedrela  odorata.  It  was  from  the  koa  trunks 
that  the  Hawaiian  natives  used  to  make  the  bodies  of 
their  canoes. 

Posts  were,  and  still  are,  an  important  item  in  archi- 
tecture, and  since  the  recent  development  they  have 
extended  their  field  of  usefulness  as  telegraph  and 
telephone  Unes  have  stretched  over  the  land.  The 
best  posts  have  always  been  cut  from  the  mamane 
tree  {Sophora  chrysophylla),  which  grows  most  satis- 
factorily upon  the  high  lands  of  the  southern  islands. 
The  ohia-ha  {Eugenia  sandwicensis) ,  besides  yielding  a 
juicy,  red  apple,  although  absolutely  disappointing  as 
to  meat  and  flavour,  also  furnishes  useful  posts,  as 
well  as  railway  sleepers.  There  are,  upon  high  lands, 
where  there  is  at  least  a  moderate  rainfall,  without  its 
being  excessive,  considerable  forests  of  mixed  timber, 
deciduous  and  evergreen,  hard  wood  and  soft,  that 
supply  useful  woods  for  furniture  and  kindred  purposes. 
The  koaia  {Acacia  koaia),  one  of  those  trees,  was  much 
sought  after  by  the  natives  in  olden  times  for  making 
their  spears  and  the  fancy  paddles  that  were  used  in 
the  kings'  and  chieftains'  state  barges. 


THE    HAWAIIAN    FLORA  167 

The  naio,  or  bastard  sandalwood,  gets  its  alternative 
name  from  the  fact  that  when  it  is  dried  and  burnt  it 
emits  a  fragrance  strongly  resembling  that  of  the  real 
sandalwood.  Natives  still  make  use  of  this  wood  for 
torches  when  they  go  spearing  fish  after  dark.  The 
''candlenut  tree,"  the  native  name  for  which  is  kukui, 
is  fairly  common  in  gulches  and  along  clean,  not  swampy, 
water-courses.  It  bears  many  nuts  that  are  remark- 
ably oily,  and  these  the  Hawaiians  formerly  used  as 
candles.  In  hamlets  remote  from  the  centres  of 
population  and  trade,  these  nuts  are  still  used  in  that 
way;  but  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  in 
Hawaii,  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world,  the 
kerosene-oil  lamp  has  practically  replaced  all  these 
primitive  methods  of  domestic  illumination. 

The  algaroba  tree  {Prosopis  dulcis),  the  iron- wood 
tree,  and  the  blue-gum  have  all  been  introduced  since 
the  coming  of  Europeans,  and  all  have  grown  well. 
The  kauila  {Alphitonia  ponder osa)  and  the  kela  {Mezo- 
neuron  kauaiense)  are  both  hardwood  trees  which  the 
natives  found  extremely  useful  in  many  ways,  both 
practical  and  aesthetic.  Lumber  cut  from  the  latter 
closely  resembles  ebony.  The  halepepe  {Dracaena 
amea)  is  a  soft  wood  from  which,  as  the  native  indicates, 
many  of  the  old  idols  were  carved.  The  wiliwili 
{Erythrina  monosperma),  the  wood  of  which  is  as  light 
as  cork,  was  used  for  canoe  outriggers  and  served  its 
purpose  most  admirably;  the  vernacular  name  suggests 
something  of  the  kind. 

The  Chinese  name  for  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  when 
translated  literally,  means  "The  Sandalwood  Islands," 


l68  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

and  it  is  most  appropriate,  if  we  put  ourselves  in  the 
place  of  the  Chinese.  This  tree,  Santalum  pyridarium, 
was  formerly  most  plentiful  in  all  the  islands,  growing 
in  rugged  soil;  but  the  demand  for  the  wood  was  so 
great  in  China,  where  its  principal  uses  were  medicinal 
and  as  an  ingredient  of  incense,  "joss-sticks,"  although 
some  was  used  by  cabinet  makers  and  kindred  artisans, 
that  the  supply  was  nearly  exhausted  in  the  short 
period  between  1802,  when  the  active  trade  with  China 
began,  and  1832,  when  that  trade  virtually  ceased 
because  of  there  being  no  more  wood  to  export.  The 
record  of  Hawaiian  history  in  the  first  three  decades  of 
the  nineteenth  century  shows  how  stupid  and  short- 
sighted was  the  cutting  of  this  valuable  tree  and  the 
waste  of  a  real  asset.  Since  the  time  when  the  kings  of 
Hawaii  have  showed  a  disposition  to  hsten  to  the  ad- 
vice of  competent  foreigners,  a  Kttle  care  has  been  given 
to  this  tree,  and  there  are  now  some  small  groves  coming 
on;  but  the  total  number  of  trees  is  small.  The  United 
States  Forest  Service  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
is  giving  scientific  attention  to  the  sandalwood  tree,  with 
prospects  of  re-developing  a  valuable  resource. 

Large  areas  of  good  forest  lands  were  simply  denuded 
by  the  ravages  of  cattle,  goats,  and  insects;  while 
fires  and  senseless  timber  cutting  added  to  the  disas- 
trous deforestation.  Since  1898,  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  this  denuded  land  has  been  reforested,  and 
other  areas  of  naturally  barren  tracts  that  were  capa- 
ble of  growing  timber  have  been  planted  with  suitable 
trees.  The  territorial  legislature  has  passed  laws 
forbidding   forest   fires   under   severe   penalty;    while 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FLORA  169 

herdsmen  and  keepers  of  livestock  are  required  to 
watch  their  animals.  There  are  now  over  half  a 
million  acres  of  forest  reserves,  two-thirds  of  which 
are  on  government  land.  The  rubber  tree  was  not 
included  in  the  indigenous  flora,  but  it  has  been  success- 
fully introduced  and  is  thriving  well,  promising  to  give 
the  bold  experimenters  a  handsome  return  upon  their 
investments  within  a  reasonable  time. 

In  the  primeval  state,  the  Hawaiian  forests  were 
usually  very  dense,  broken  by  deep  chasms,  hidden 
ravines,  and  deep,  conical-shaped  pits  which  were 
doubtless  at  one  time  active  volcanoes.  The  trees 
were  overgrown  with  masses  of  ferns  and  parasitical 
vines,  thickly  interlaced  and  spreading  their  shoots  in 
all  directions,  so  as  to  make  it  an  extremely  difficult 
task  to  penetrate  their  recesses.  A  sooty  crust,  firm, 
hard,  and  stiff,  resembhng  a  coarse  and  very  strong 
paper,  would  often  form  upon  many  of  the  trees  and 
plants,  covering  the  bark  as  well  as  the  leaves,  and 
imparting  to  them  the  singular  appearance  of  being 
clothed  in  mourning.  This  description,  general  in  its 
appHcation  half  a  century  ago,  is  still  applicable  to 
some  of  the  remoter,  almost  inaccessible  forests.  But 
the  cutting  of  good  roads  and  the  general  attention 
given  to  forestry  have  effected  a  radical  change. 

The  Hawaiian  Islands  were  naturally  singularly 
deficient  in  fruit-bearing  plants.  In  the  records  of  the 
Cook  and  Vancouver  expeditions,  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  yams  or  sweet  potatoes  were  about  the  only 
vegetable  production  for  which  the  Europeans  cared. 
Jarves   states  that  the  banana,  breadfruit,  cocoanut. 


170  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

arrowroot,  sugar-cane,  Chilean  strawberry  {Fragaria 
chilensis),  raspberry,  ohelo,  and  ohia  were  indigenous 
and  plentiful.  Both  of  the  last  mentioned  were  found 
only  on  the  high  lands  of  Hawaii  and  Maui  Islands. 
The  ohia  was  famous  in  song  and  story  because  of  its 
former  use  as  a  propitiatory  offering  to  Pele,  the 
volcano  goddess. 

There  are  three  indigenous  plants  which  merit 
special  mention  because  of  their  value  and  importance 
to  the  natives;  and  these  attributes  have  not  yet  been 
effaced  by  the  changes  wrought  in  domestic  economy. 
The  first  of  these  plants  is  the  taro  {Arum  esculentum, 
or  Caladium  Colocasia).  Taro  is  now  always  written 
Kalo.  This  formed  the  staple  food,  its  root  being 
sometimes  cooked  but  was  usually  pounded  in  water 
until  semi-fluid,  when  it  was  allowed  partially  to 
ferment,  and  was  then  called  poi.  For  a  long  time 
many  Hawaiians  refused  to  visit  America  or  Europe 
because  poi  could  not  be  had  there.  It  was  served  in 
a  common  bowl  (men  and  women,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, in  former  times  always  eating  separately),  into 
which  each  person  dipped  his  fingers  and  adroitly 
caught  up  a  mouthful.  According  to  the  consistency, 
it  was  called  ''two-finger  poV  or  "three-finger  poi  J' 

The  second  plant  was  the  mulberry  tree,  wauti.  The 
osier-like  plants  were  very  carefully  tended,  and  when 
the  rods  were  ten  or  twelve  feet  long,  they  were  cut 
and  from  the  inner  bark  a  fine  and  beautiful  cloth, 
tapa,  was  made.  This  was  printed  with  vegetable 
and  mineral  dyes,  and  sometimes  scented  with  sandal- 
wood or  pandanus  seeds. 


Giant  Tree-Fern 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FLORA  171 

The  third  plant  was  the  ti,  which  has  already  been 
mentioned  as  supplying  the  thatch  for  houses.  It  may 
be  added  that  from  its  roots,  when  macerated  and 
fermented,  an  intoxicating  drink  was  made.  In  this 
connection,  the  awa  should  be  remembered  because  of 
its  fame  as  supplying  a  beverage,  and  for  its  curative 
powers  in  internal  disease  and  in  effecting  a  cure  of 
obstinate  cutaneous  affections.  Some  contend  that 
it  is  an  excellent  antiscorbutic. 

But  the  number  of  fruit-bearing  trees,  shrubs,  and 
plants  which  have  been  successfully  introduced  is 
enormous.  Apparently  any  tropical  or  sub-tropical 
fruit  or  berry,  as  well  as  many  from  the  temperate 
zones,  will  thrive:  this  subject,  however,  pertains  to 
the  agricultural  industry. 

The  Hawaiian  Islands  are  fortunate  in  that  there  is 
no  bamboo-grass,  that  scourge  of  western  islands  and 
the  continent  of  Asia  which  is  so  fatal  to  sheep,  goats, 
and  all  small  herbivorous  animals.  Nevertheless  the 
archipelago  was  not  naturally  rich  in  succulent  grasses 
that  supply  good  grazing  lands;  yet  the  introduction 
of  exotics  has  largely  made  up  for  this  natural  defi- 
ciency. Various  plants  supplied  the  inner  bark  or 
fibre  from  which  the  famous  tapa  cloth  was  made;  but 
this  is  one  of  the  obsolescent  industries,  as  is  the  ex- 
traction of  the  koolea  dyes  that  were  used  in  colouring 
tapa.  There  are  several  species  of  Ciholium  that  supply 
a  glossy,  yellowish  vegetable  fibre  like  wool  which 
the  natives  used  occasionally  for  stuffing  pillows,  and 
which  foreigners  find  most  useful  for  mattresses  as  well. 

The  fresh-water   algae,  or  weeds    comparable  with 


172  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

seaweeds,  of  which  there  are  nearly  one  hundred 
varieties,  are  very  much  Hked  by  the  Hawaiians.  They 
are  washed,  salted,  and  eaten  as  a  relish,  or  used  as  a 
flavouring  for  fish  and  meats.  There  are  great  possi- 
bilities for  the  industrialist  in  these  algae,  since  gelatine, 
glue,  and  agar-agar  (also  known  as  Ceylon  moss  and 
Bombay  isinglass)  would  be  valuable  by-products. 

The  ferns  of  the  islands  are  many  in  number  and  of 
wide  variety  in  size  and  character.  They  range  from 
the  mighty  tree-fern,  which  often  offers  an  almost 
impassable  barrier  to  the  traveller,  down  to  the  daintiest 
forms  that  must  seek  the  shelter  of  a  secluded  valley 
to  get  the  needed  protection  from  the  rough  wind. 

Before  leaving  the  division  of  the  larger  flora,  if  no 
mention  were  made  of  such  trees  as  the  banyan,  cocoa- 
nut  and  other  palms,  as  well  as  many  others  which 
contribute  so  much  to  the  beauty  of  Hawaiian  gardens, 
it  would  be  an  unpardonable  oversight.  In  this 
category  are  included  many  trees  which  have  Httle  or 
no  commercial  value  for  their  lumber-producing  qual- 
ities, and  yet  do  combine  usefulness  with  decorative 
value.  As  the  new-comer  turns  aside  out  of  the  busy 
streets  into  one  of  the  parks  or  gardens  which  surround 
public  buildings,  hotels,  or  residences  the  great,  spread- 
ing banyan  tree  will  at  once  challenge  his  attention; 
while  the  rows  of  cocoanut  palms  in  every  direction, 
bordering  roads  and  driveways,  fringing  the  beach,  in 
clumps  here  and  there,  will  lend  just  one  more  to  the 
many  fascinations  which  weave  the  spell  of  Hawaii  so 
quickly  and  so  strongly  as  to  make  it  such  a  difiicult 
one  to  break  when  the  time  comes  all  too  quickly  to 


THE    HAWAIIAN    FLORA  173 

say  Aloha.  Not  to  burden  the  reader  with  too  much 
elaboration  of  this  topic  of  useful  trees,  reference  is 
made  to  the  Hawaiian  Annual  for  19 13,  in  which 
there  is  a  long  and  interesting  article  about  the  choice 
of  shade-trees  for  planting  at  Honolulu. 

We  come  naturally  to  what  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
interesting  subject  of  flowers.  If  the  variety  of  flower- 
ing trees  and  plants,  particularly  those  whose  fragrance 
is  pronounced  and  agreeable,  is  not  strikingly  great  as 
compared  with  the  kindred  flora  of  some  other  Pacific 
Islands,  the  East  Indies  especially,  it  has  to  be  admitted 
that  the  quantities  which  the  people  use  are  enormous. 
In  peace  or  war;  at  birth,  marriage,  or  death;  at  social 
gathering  or  solemn  religious  ceremony ;  on  state  occa- 
sion or  trifling  village  function,  flowers  were,  and  are 
still,  deemed  of  almost  vital  importance. 

The  very  first  European  visitors,  the  Spaniards  of 
the  early  sixteenth  century  of  whom  we  really  know 
so  tantalisingly  little,  were  at  once  struck  with  the 
natives'  fondness  for  bedecking  themselves  with  flowers 
as  natural  ornaments.  The  strangers  were  puzzled  to 
see  wreaths  and  baskets  of  flowers  in  the  canoes  which 
came  off  to  their  ships;  and  it  is  quite  likely  the  suspi- 
cious Spaniards  saw  some  hidden  menace.  Later, 
Cook  and  his  associates  repeated  the  story  of  wreaths 
and  garlands  and  great  masses  of  blooms  used  upon 
all  occasions. 

It  has  to  be  noted  with  sincere  sorrow  that  the 
first  Protestant  missionaries  paid  no  attention  to  what 
most  visitors  considered  the  Hawaiians'  love  of  flowers 
to  indicate:   a  character  not  incapable  of  responding 


174  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

promptly  to  refining  influence.  The  mistake  was  soon 
recognised  and  in  a  measure  atoned  for. 

If  the  stranger  who  is  making  his  first  visit  is  so  for- 
tunate as  to  have  friends  among  the  natives  or  the  resi- 
dent foreigners,  one  conspicuous  feature  of  the  hearty 
welcome  given  will  be  the  wreaths  or  chains  of  flowers, 
leis,  that  are  thrown  over  the  head  with  the  first  spoken 
word  of  greeting,  Aloha,  that  means  —  corresponding 
to  circumstances  —  ''welcome,"  "farewell,"  "my  love 
to  you,"  or,  if  the  name  of  an  absent  friend  is  men- 
tioned, "my  kindest  regards  to  him  or  her." 

For  these  leis,  the  most  popular  flowers  are  carna- 
tions, mimosa,  or  any  blossoms  having  a  long  enough 
stem  to  permit  of  twining  them  into  garlands  or  wreaths; 
but  preference  is  always  given  to  brilHant  hues,  hence 
red,  bright  pink,  yellow  are  the  most  common  colours: 
white  is  not  very  popular.  Whether  the  association 
of  white  flowers  with  death  and  mourning  is  native  or 
acquired,  it  is  certain  that  pure  white  blossoms  are 
shunned  by  the  Hawaiians  for  their  leis  which  are 
almost  invariably  associated  with  sentiments  foreign 
to  mourning. 

All  flowers  that  can  stand  the  climate  thrive  wonder- 
fully in  the  open  air;  for  there  is  never  any  necessity 
for  sheltering  them  under  glass:  indeed,  the  only 
precaution  that  floriculturahsts  have  to  take  is  to  see 
that  tender  exotics  do  not  blossom  themselves  to  death 
in  the  stimulating  climate.  On  all  occasions  of  street 
pageants,  the  floral  devices  are  so  remarkable  as  to  win 
praise  from  visitors  who  are  accustomed  to  see  at  home 
the  most  effective  use  of  flowers  in  these  ways. 


THE    HAWAIIAN    FLORA  175 

Although  it  would  seem,  from  what  was  said  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  that  the  work  of  the  botanist 
in  determining  genera  and  species  had  been  accom- 
plished, it  is  nevertheless  true  that  there  is  yet  work 
for  the  trained  speciaKst  to  do  among  the  wild  flowers, 
particularly  in  the  remoter  regions  of  those  islands 
which  have  not  yet  been  completely  tramped  over  by 
strangers.  Even  if  absolutely  unidentified  species  of 
plants  are  now  rare,  it  can  hardly  be  possible  that  the 
mingling  of  native  and  exotic  plants  has  ceased  entirely 
to  produce  some  new  varieties.  It  is  not  probable 
that  the  orchid  hunter  will  find  anything  to  reward  his 
search,  because  naturally  the  parasites  do  not  thrive 
in  Hawaii. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  HAWAIIAN  FAUNA 

THE  first  European  visitors  to  the  islands  who 
gave  any  careful  attention  to  the  natural  history 
of  the  archipelago  found  the  only  quadrupeds  of  any 
size  to  be  dogs  and  swine;  besides  these,  rats  were 
plentiful.  There  were  not  then,  nor  have  there  been 
since,  any  predacious  animals,  such  as  the  Hon,  tiger, 
leopard,  and  the  Hke.  How  the  three  animals  men- 
tioned got  to  the  islands,  it  is  impossible  to  say;  they 
seem  to  have  been  domiciled  when  the  Spaniards  first 
saw  the  group.  Of  course  there  is  the  myth  of  the 
first  human  inhabitants  having  come  from  Tahiti, 
bringing  with  them  hogs,  dogs,  and  chickens;  with 
this  explanation  we  must  perforce  be  content.  Doubt- 
less the  rats  came  at  the  same  time,  but  we  may  be 
sure  their  importation  was  not  an  intentional  act. 

NaturaUsts  say  that  the  only  really  indigenous 
animals  were  a  kind  of  bat  which  flies  about  in  the 
daytime,  together  with  whales  and  dolphins.  But 
this  statement  is  far  from  being  satisfactory;  because  it 
is  manifestly  unfair  to  restrict  the  range  of  an  animal 
that  makes  its  home  in  the  sea  an  open  thoroughfare 
for  all.  Fishes,  by  their  peculiar  habits  as  to  warm  or 
cold  water,  deep  or  shallow  seas,  etc.,  are  sometimes 
very  much  limited  in  their  range;    but  this  is  hardly 


THE    HAWAIIAN    FAUNA  177 

true  of  such  creatures  as  whales  and  dolphins.  The 
same  objection  as  to  being  indigenous  may  be  raised 
in  the  case  of  the  bat,  a  winged  creature  having  the 
whole  air  for  its  domain. 

The  eminent  naturalist  Wallace  was  of  the  opinion 
that  the  Hawaiian  archipelago  had  been  so  long  sepa- 
rated from  all  other  land  that  its  indigenous  animal 
life  was  virtually  unique.  To  this  opinion  must  be 
added  the  undoubted  volcanic  origin  of  the  group; 
and  it  is  entirely  reasonable  to  argue  that  there  never 
was  any  physical  connection  with  other  bodies  of  land. 
This  justifies  the  statement  that  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  strictly  indigenous  fauna.  Every  living  creature 
reached  the  islands  from  some  other  home. 

When  the  Europeans  had  actually  estabHshed  them- 
selves permanently  and  gave  some  thought  to  the 
amusement  and  excitement  of  the  chase,  they  found 
that  some  of  the  swine  had  run  wild,  and  the  boars 
were  occasionally  sufficiently  fierce  to  give  a  keen  zest 
to  the  sport,  and  they  called  such  boars  "wild  animals." 

Besides  the  animals  named,  dogs  and  pigs,  there 
were  plenty  of  barnyard  fowls,  and  there  were  also 
many  kinds  of  water-fowl,  wild  geese  and  ducks  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year,  as  well  as  beach  birds,  such 
as  snipe,  plover,  sandpipers,  etc.  The  natives  used 
all  these  for  food,  including  the  dogs  that  were  esteemed 
rather  as  a  luxury  —  particularly  if  well  fattened  and 
not  too  old  and  tough.  These  were  the  only  varieties 
of  land  animals  which  the  natives  used  as  food  until 
Vancouver  introduced  horned  cattle. 

These  last  mentioned  did  not  immediately  thrive; 


178  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

but  when  they  did  eventually  become  domiciled,  they 
did  well  and  are  now  a  source  of  comfort,  both  for  the 
food  they  furnish  and  as  occasional  draft  animals. 
Pretty  much  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  horse. 
It  came  to  the  Hawaiians  as  one  of  the  earhest  benefits 
conferred  by  Europeans  and  has  since  so  greatly  in- 
creased in  numbers,  although  rather  degenerating  in 
size  and  stamina,  that  it  is  pronounced  by  some  to  be 
a  veritable  nuisance.  Indeed,  one  very  intelligent 
and  sympathetic  writer  avers  that  if  two-thirds  of  all 
the  horses  in  the  archipelago  were  exterminated,  it 
would  be  a  great  blessing  for  the  people  and  the  coun- 
try; because  their  consumption  of  food  which  might 
advantageously  be  used  in  other  ways  is  not  by  any 
means  compensated  for  by  the  service  which  the  people 
get  from  their  ponies.  A  hint,  at  least,  has  been  given 
of  the  ill  effects  following  the  abuse  of  the  exercise  of 
horseback  riding.  While  this  abuse  has  been,  in  a 
measure,  checked  through  the  influence  of  example 
and  sane  advice,  it  has  not  yet  been  entirely  removed 
as  one  of  the  causes  of  the  shrinking  in  numbers  of  the 
true  Hawaiian  population. 

There  is  one  small  animal  which  may  not  altogether 
improperly  be  called  predacious,  if  we  bear  in  mind 
that  this  description  means  strictly  living  by  preying 
upon  other  creatures  whom  it  kills  and  devours.  It  is 
the  mongoose  and  it  had  rather  a  bad  reputation  with 
the  old  Hawaiians  for  preying  upon  birds.  Its  favour- 
ite food  seems  to  have  been  the  "Fire-bird,"  of  which 
we  shall  speak  in  a  later  paragraph.  The  mongoose 
does  not  appear  in  any  Hst  of  native  fauna  that  has 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FAUNA  179 

come  to  our  notice,  and  the  inference  is  that  it  was 
brought  from  the  western  islands.  It  is  quite  small, 
hardly  the  size  of  the  common  house  cat;  but  it  is  one 
of  the  most  valiant  little  creatures  in  the  world.  In 
India,  where  it  is  absolutely  fearless  of  human  beings, 
it  is  domesticated  and  petted  because  of  its  willingness 
to  wage  war  to  the  death  with  the  dreadful  cobra, 
other  venomous  snakes,  and  all  kinds  of  noxious 
creatures.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  achieved  the 
same  popularity  with  the  Hawaiians. 

The  other  small  indigenous  reptiles  include  several 
lizards;  notably  three  kinds  of  skink,  sometimes  called 
the  ''Egyptian  lizard,"  and  four  varieties  of  the  gecko 
or  gekko  —  the  name  coming  from  the  Malay  gikok  and 
therefore  suggesting,  at  least,  some  results  zoologically 
of  the  famous  western  voyages  of  exploration  under- 
taken by  the  prehistoric  Hawaiians.  This  last  men- 
tioned creature  is  often  called  the  "Wall  lizard" 
because  of  its  habit  of  running  up  and  down  old 
walls  where  insects  are  likely  to  be  plentiful.  It  is 
conspicuous  for  its  imitativeness  in  possessing  the 
ability  to  make  its  colour  correspond  with  that  of 
the  surface  under  it,  being  thus  an  interesting  example 
of  protective  traits. 

It  is  evident  that  the  mammals  of  Hawaii  are 
not  numerous,  and  certainly  they  are  not  important 
zoologically.  Wallace*  writes:  ''It  need  hardly  be 
said  that  indigenous  mammalia  are  quite  unknown  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  most  interesting  of  the  higher 
animals  being  the  birds,  which  are  tolerably  numerous 

*  Wallace,  Alfred  Russell,  Island  Life. 


l8o  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

and  highly  pecuKar."  The  term  "indigenous"  as  used 
in  this  chapter  is  purely  relative. 

Opinions  differ  as  to  the  extent  and  variety  of  bird 
life.  The  earliest  writers,  who  probably  did  not 
reahse  how  pecuHarly  independent  the  eight  larger 
islands  are  in  their  natural  history,  were  disposed  to 
say  that  there  were  few  birds  to  relieve  the  loneHness 
of  the  forests  and  enliven  them  with  their  songs.  Yet 
later  students  found  that  the  Hawaiian  people  had 
names  for  nearly  one  hundred  varieties  of  birds,  al- 
though the  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  there  were,  and 
are,  very  few  songsters  in  this  fairly  large  number, 
which  is  quite  considerable  when  we  remember  the 
comparatively  small  area  of  the  country.  The  best 
of  the  song  birds,  the  California  canary,  the  English 
song  sparrow,  and  several  others  have  been  introduced 
by  foreigners  within  comparatively  recent  times. 

It  struck  the  first  European  visitors  as  being  rather 
strange  not  to  find  any  parrots  on  these  tropical  islands, 
but  the  fact  is  there  were  none,  although  there  was  at 
least  one  parroquet,  properly  called  the  "Tropic  Bird," 
with  glossy,  purple  plumage.  Its  feathers  were  for- 
merly used  to  make  the  kahili,  a  kind  of  fan  which  an 
attendant  held  near  a  king  or  a  great  chief  as  an  im- 
portant part  of  his  insignia.  The  absence  of  parrots 
and  similar  birds  tends  to  confirm  the  opinion  that 
intercourse  with  other  islands  far  away  to  the  south 
and  west  was  never  direct  physically  since  the  evolu- 
tion of  man,  or  at  all  frequent  as  a  matter  of  human 
association. 

Some  of  the  native  birds,  using  the  adjective  cau- 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FAUNA  l8l 

tiously,  display  remarkable  fitness  for  their  special 
habits.  This  is  particularly  true  of  those  which  prey 
upon  the  insects  that  burrow  in  the  hard  bark  of  certain 
forest  trees.  One  of  these  birds  has  a  powerful  beak, 
shaped  somewhat  like  a  sickle,  which  it  uses  with 
tremendous  effect.  Others  of  the  insectivorous  birds 
combine  with  their  animal  food  a  certain  measure  of 
dainty  vegetable  diet,  in  that  they  suck  the  nectar 
from  flowers,  while  some  even  carry  their  fondness  for 
sweets  so  far  as  to  steal  the  hoards  of  honey  stowed 
away  by  bees. 

It  was  from  the  mamo,  a  small  bird,  that  the  natives 
took  many  of  the  golden  feathers  which  they  used  in 
making  the  so-called  war  cloaks  of  the  ancient  kings 
and  chiefs.  This  bird  has  almost  disappeared  because 
of  the  persistency  shown  in  capturing  it  for  this  aes- 
thetic and  symboHc  gratification.  When  occasionally 
seen  at  the  present  time,  the  golden  feathers  on  its  back 
flash  in  the  sunUght  in  a  most  brilhant  manner. 

At  least  two  other  very  small  birds  were  also  caught 
for  their  plumage  to  be  used  in  making  those  gorgeously 
barbaric  cloaks.  These  were  the  O-o  {Moho  nohilis) 
and  A-a  {Moho  braccata).  The  native  names  came 
from  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  calls  of  the  birds;  they 
are  even  yet  to  be  found  occasionally  on  Kauai  Island. 
A  large  part  of  the  brilhant  scarlet  feathers  used  in 
making  some  of  the  ceremonial  cloaks  came  from  the 
iiwi  {Vestiaria  coccinea),  another  small  bird  having  a 
black  body  and  scarlet  wings.  It  is  one  of  the  very 
few  song  birds  of  the  archipelago.  Its  feathers  are 
now  used  to  some  extent  in  making  the  garlands  worn 


l82  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

on  festive  occasion  and  the  leis,  wreaths,  when  natural 
or  artificial  flowers  are  not  employed  exclusively  for 
these  purposes. 

The  "Fire-bird"  {Gallinula  sandwicensis)  virtually 
takes  the  place  in  Hawaiian  legend  that  Prometheus 
fills  in  Greek  mythology.  It  is  said  to  have  robbed 
the  fires  of  the  celestial  deities  by  poking  its  head  into 
the  blazing  coals  and  catching  some  of  them  on  its 
crown.  This  fire  it  then  brought  down  to  the  island 
of  Hawaii  and  bestowed  upon  mankind  the  priceless 
gift  of  fire,  so  that  human  beings  were  thenceforth 
able  to  cook  their  food;  all  of  which,  until  then,  they 
had  been  compelled  to  eat  raw.  As  an  evidence  of 
the  truth  of  this  story,  the  natives  point  to  the  bird's 
head,  which  is  fiery  red  on  top.  It  must  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  the  people,  from  the  very  first  day  of  their 
landing  on  Hawaii  Island,  had  plenty  of  fire  to  their 
hands  in  the  volcanoes,  without  being  compelled  to 
borrow  or  to  steal  vicariously  from  the  gods  and  thereby 
incur  the  deities'  wrath. 

Whether  indigenous  or  domesticated  after  importa- 
tion from  abroad,  it  can  hardly  be  said  truthfully  now 
that  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  conspicuously  lacking 
in  bird  life;  and  if  perchance  the  forests  do  not  ring 
with  the  sweet  tumult  made  by  innumerable  songsters, 
there  are  enough  of  brilliant  plumage  to  cause  the 
visitor  to  disagree  with  those  who  laid  the  charge  of 
loneliness  to  the  sylvan  glades. 

Primitive  Hawaii  was  singularly  blest  in  having  no 
mosquitoes  and  but  very  few  noxious  insects  of  any 
sort.     Of   creatures  of   this   kind   which   the  earliest 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FAUNA  183 

resident  foreigners  noted,  there  were  a  caterpillar, 
palua  the  natives  called  it,  which  did  considerable 
damage  to  vegetation,  in  places  eating  even  the  grass 
down  to  its  very  roots;  a  slug  which  deposited  its  eggs 
in  the  cotton  blossoms,  and  when  these  were  hatched 
—  just  at  the  time  when  the  boll  was  ripe  —  the  young 
insects  pierced  through  the  shell,  utterly  destroying 
the  staple  or  cotton  lint.  It  is  to  be  noted  here  that 
while  Cook's  botanist  observed  the  growth  of  two 
kinds  of  cotton,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  people 
knew  anything  about  using  this  valuable  fibre  until  they 
were  taught  to  do  so,  long  afterwards,  by  foreigners. 
Another  of  these  destructive  insects  was  a  spider, 
some  of  them  very  large,  which  was  troublesome  be- 
cause of  the  strong  web  it  would  often  throw  over 
shrubs  and  young  trees  to  their  permanent  injury;  the 
webs  being,  besides,  a  great  annoyance  to  travellers. 
Another  was  a  species  of  wood-louse,  the  kind  that 
is  popularly  known  as  the  "ant-cow"  {aphis)  and 
therefore  familiar  to  most  readers.  This  was  both 
destructive  and  annoying.  The  Hawaiians  had  only 
themselves  to  blame  for  a  personal  pest,  pediculus 
vestimenti  and  phthirius  pubis  or  inguinalis,  which  they 
brought  with  them  from  Tahiti  or  wherever  their  orig- 
inal home  may  have  been.  This  disgusting  creature, 
not  mentioned  or  written,  simply  swarmed  all  over 
them. 

But  one  of  the  most  serious  penalties  which  the 
people  of  the  archipelago  have  paid  for  the  benefits 
in  other  respects  conferred  by  European  civiUsation 
has  been  the  bringing  in  of  such  pests  as  locusts, 


184  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

mosquitoes,  fleas,  cockroaches,  scorpions,  and  centi- 
pedes. All  of  these  have  found  congenial  homes  and 
have  increased  in  number  amazingly.  One  of  the  most 
serious  objections  to  the  Paradise  of  the  Pacific  (there 
is  hardly  any  other!)  which  the  new-comer  or  the 
transient  visitor,  en  route  for  the  Far  East  and  staying 
over  a  day  or  two  only  at  Honolulu,  finds  to  make  his 
life  miserable  by  day  or  night  is  the  mosquito.  Con- 
siderable and  vigorous  effort  is  being  made  to  extermi- 
nate this  unspeakable  nuisance,  and  with  some  prospect 
of  ultimate  success.  Besides  the  common  measures  of 
draining  swamps,  looking  after  drains,  etc.,  large  num- 
bers of  the  top-minnow  have  been  brought  into  the 
territory  and  turned  out  into  ponds  to  eat  the  mos- 
quito larvae,  of  which  this  Uttle  fish  is  very  fond. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  fishes  in  the  sea  and  fresh 
waters  of  the  archipelago.  Of  the  former  a  few  names 
will  suSice  to  give  a  suggestion:  albacore,  bonita, 
flying-fish,  and  shark.  It  must  always  be  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  naturalists  are  quite  properly 
reluctant  to  localise  ocean  fishes.  Many  kinds  of 
fishes  were  cultivated  in  artificial  ponds:  of  these  the 
mullet  was  the  most  important.  The  eel  belongs  in 
both  categories.  Edible  shell-fish  are  both  numerous 
and  of  great  variety;  the  pearl  oyster,  cuttle-fish,  and 
prawn  were  best  hked  by  the  natives,  and  it  may  be 
said  that  fish  formed  one  of  the  chief  articles  of  animal 
food.  The  common  oyster,  the  lobster,  and  the  crab 
have  not,  we  believe,  been  successfully  added  to  the 
list  of  sea-foods.  In  this  connection  it  may  appositely 
be  mentioned  that  while  there  were  plenty  of  pearls, 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FAUNA  185 

they  were  not  obtained  of  any  great  size  and  were 
never  noted  for  their  lustre  and  beauty  of  shape.  Yet 
pearls  were  at  one  time  an  important  article  of  trade 
with  the  Chinese  and  were  a  royal  monopoly. 

There  are  a  great  many  land-shells,  about  thirty 
genera,  and  between  three  hundred  and  four  hundred 
species  which  have  been  described,  growing,  as  a 
rule,  upon  the  leaves  of  certain  trees.  One  pecu- 
liarity of  the  creature  which  produces  these  shells  is  its 
restricted  area.  Each  valley  and  often  each  side  of 
the  valley,  and  sometimes  even  every  ridge  and  peak 
possesses  its  pecuHar  species.  These  animals  and 
their  shells  do  not,  apparently,  contribute  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people,  although  some  of  the  shells  were 
used  for  personal  adornment  and  for  decorative  pur- 
poses. 

At  the  present  time,  it  is  estimated  that  there  are 
more  than  five  hundred  different  species  of  beetles  in 
the  archipelago,  of  which  fully  eighty  per  cent  are  not 
known  elsewhere.  That  there  may  be  good  work  done 
by  the  entomologist  in  the  further  study  of  insect  life 
in  Hawaii  need  hardly  be  afiirmed.  It  is  sufficient 
merely  to  mention  the  coral  insect.  The  results  of  its 
labours  are  visible  in  many  localities;  but  its  study 
appeals  to  the  specialist  only  and  demands  the  use  of 
the  microscope. 

Inasmuch  as  deer  are  now  included  in  the  list  of  the 
islands'  mammalia,  it  is  evident  that  these  creatures 
were  introduced  from  the  continent  of  North  America. 
They  have  thrived  so  well  that  on  Molokai  Island,  if 
not  elsewhere,  there  is  good  sport  to  be  had  in  stalking 


l86  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

them.  On  the  islands  of  Hawaii,  Maui,  and  Kauai, 
the  hunter  may  enjoy  active  sport  in  pursuing  wild 
boar,  wild  cattle,  and  wild  goats,  with  quite  enough  of 
the  spice  of  danger  added  to  make  the  game  attractive. 
In  the  proper  season  there  is  plenty  of  bird  shooting 
to  be  had,  wild  geese  and  several  varieties  of  ducks, 
that  come  south  after  nesting  in  Alaska,  Along  the 
coasts  there  are  also  snipe,  plover,  and  other  semi- 
aquatic  birds;  while  inland  there  are  pheasants,  doves, 
and  some  other  birds.  A  wise  precaution  on  the  part 
of  the  territorial  ofi&cers,  having  in  mind  the  protection 
of  those  birds  which  destroy  insect  pests,  tends  to  keep 
this  branch  of  sport  within  reasonable  bounds. 

If  there  is  but  little  brook  or  river  fishing  to  be  done, 
there  is  endless  sport  to  be  had  on  salt  water.  Many 
game  fish  may  be  caught  with  rod  and  line,  sometimes 
from  a  detached  rock  or  point  jutting  out  into  or 
beyond  the  surf;  or  at  other  times  from  a  boat  well 
off  shore.  To  hook  and  play  one  of  the  big  fish  that 
will  take  the  bait  give  all  the  exhilaration  that  the 
keenest  fisherman  can  ask.  A  game  well  worth  the 
attention  of  the  enthusiastic  sportsman  is  the  capture 
of  the  man-eating  shark,  "the  tiger  of  the  sea";  but  it 
is  recommended  not  to  emulate  the  pastime  of  the  na- 
tives in  this  matter,  which  will  be  mentioned  in  another 
chapter.  For  this  sport  Honolulu  offers  exceptional 
opportunities;  because  the  fishing  is  done  from  motor- 
boats  that  go  well  outside  the  harbour,  beyond  the 
coral  reef  that  so  safely  guards  the  splendid  bathing 
beaches  adjacent  to  the  town. 

In  closing  this  incomplete  sketch  of  Hawaii's  fauna, 


THE     HAWAIIAN     FAUNA  187 

a  quotation  from  Wallace's  book  is  given.  When 
discussing  the  extremely  interesting  subject  of  land- 
shells,  he  says:  *'The  most  important  peculiar  genus, 
not  belonging  to  the  Achatinella  group,  is  Carelia,  with 
six  species  and  several  varieties,  all  peculiar  to  Kauai, 
the  most  westerly  of  the  large  islands.  This  would 
seem  to  show  that  the  small  islets  stretching  westward, 
and  situated  on  an  extensive  bank  with  less  than  a 
thousand  fathoms  of  water  over  it,  may  indicate  the 
position  of  a  large  submerged  island  whence  some 
portion  of  the  Sandwich  Island  fauna  was  derived."  * 
Correcting  this  statement  so  as  to  give  Niihau  Island 
the  westernmost  position,  and  thereby  add  to  the 
plausibility  of  the  theory,  it  is  certainly  well  worth 
serious  consideration,  since  it  offers  an  explanation  of 
what  is  otherwise  extremely  difi&cult  to  understand  — 
the  evolution  of  Hawaii's  curious  flora  and  fauna. 

*  Island  Life. 


CHAPTER  XV 

AGRICULTURE:    ESPECIALLY  IN  ITS 
ECONOMIC  ASPECTS 

THIS  subject,  as  it  relates  to  ancient  times,  may 
be  quickly  disposed  of.  In  a  tropical  country 
having  a  most  salubrious  climate,  it  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose there  was  little  for  the  people  to  do  in  the  way  of 
serious  agriculture.  Had  the  Hawaiians  been  con- 
tented with  what  Nature  bestowed  gratuitously  — 
bananas,  yams,  sweet  potatoes,  breadfruit,  cocoanuts, 
and  a  few  berries  —  they  might  have  subsisted;  but 
it  would  have  been  little  more  than  existence. 

The  soil  of  the  islands,  as  described  by  the  earliest 
writers,  was  formed  of  decomposed  volcanic  rocks,  sand, 
mud,  and  ashes.  To  be  made  fertile,  it  required 
constant  irrigation  which  an  abundant  water  supply 
furnished  in  nearly  all  localities;  but  a  measure  of 
manual  labour,  quite  exceptional  with  people  of  such 
a  low  standard  of  culture  as  the  Hawaiians  had  reached, 
was  an  added  necessity.  The  scientific  methods  of 
the  present  day  have  demonstrated  the  inherent 
fertiUty  of  the  soil,  as  will  be  shown  presently. 

The  valleys,  which  received  the  debris  and  rain  water 
from  the  mountains,  and  which  have  been  for  ages 
accumulating  deposits  of  vegetable  mould,  are  ex- 
ceedingly rich  and  productive;  but  they  were  of  limited 


ECONOMIC    AGRICULTURE  189 

area  even  when  we  consider  the  primitive  implements 
at  the  service  of  the  old-time  Hawaiians.  These  were 
nothing  more  than  pointed  sticks,  usually  hardened  by 
charring;  of  anything  approaching  the  shape  of  a 
plough,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  had  any  knowl- 
edge. Yet  in  spite  of  this  paucity  of  equipment, 
Cook's  comment  indicates  a  considerable  measure  of 
development  as  agriculturalists.  "What  we  saw  of 
their  agriculture,  furnished  sufficient  proofs  that  they 
were  not  novices  in  that  art.  The  vale  grounds  have 
already  been  mentioned  as  one  continued  plantation 
of  taro^  and  a  few  other  things,  which  have  all  the 
appearance  of  being  well  attended  to.  The  potato 
fields,  and  spots  of  sugar-cane  or  plantains,  on  the 
higher  grounds,  are  planted  with  some  regularity; 
and  always  in  some  determinate  figure,  generally  as  a 
square  or  oblong;  but  neither  these,  nor  the  others 
are  inclosed  with  any  kind  of  fence,  unless  we  reckon 
the  ditches  in  the  low  grounds  such,  which,  it  is  more 
probable,  are  intended  to  convey  water  to  the  taro. 
The  great  quantity  and  goodness  of  these  articles  may 
also,  perhaps,  be  as  much  attributed  to  skilful  culture, 
as  to  natural  fertihty  of  soil." 

The  soil  was  generally  considered  poor  and  better 
adapted  to  grazing  than  for  agriculture;  yet  with 
labour  and  skill  it  could  be  made  to  produce  fairly 
good  crops.  Nature  really  gave  sparingly,  and  be- 
cause the  natives  were  not  satisfied  with  that  little, 
they  were  compelled  to  display  considerable  ingenuity 
in  locating  their  vegetable  patches  so  as  to  secure  the 
full  benefit  of  the  indispensable  water;  and  then  add  a 


IQO  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

great  amount  of  hard  manual  labour  in  the  cultivation 
of  their  staple  article  of  vegetable  food,  the  kalo,  from 
which,  principally,  they  made  their  poi. 

The  kalo  is  the  plant  we  know  best  by  the  name  of 
taro,  Caladium  Colocaris.  Poi  is  prepared  from  its 
tuberous  roots,  which  are  baked  in  ovens  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  then  thoroughly  pounded, 
usually  in  a  mortar-shaped  vessel  with  a  hard  wood  or 
stone  pestle,  being  mixed  with  just  enough  water  to 
make  a  doughhke  paste.  It  is  then  allowed  to  ferment, 
acquiring  a  slightly  sour  taste,  and  in  three  or  four  days 
it  is  ready  to  be  eaten.  It  is  served  cold  and  dipped 
up  with  the  fingers. 

The  kalo  is  cultivated  in  artificial  water  beds,  as 
well  as  in  high  upland  soil  that  is  clean  and  mellow; 
although  poi  made  from  this  high  land  kalo  is  not 
considered  quite  so  appetising  as  the  other.  Great 
labour  is  necessary  in  growing  kalo  successfully,  and  it 
requires  a  year  or  more,  with  constant  irrigation,  to 
arrive  at  maturity.  Poi  is  made  almost  entirely  from 
the  kalo  roots,  but  sweet  potatoes  and  breadfruit  may 
be  used  for  the  purpose;  when  these  are  substituted 
they  are  treated  in  practically  the  same  way  as  the 
kalo  tubers:  although  the  resultant  poi  is  scorned  by 
epicures. 

Poi  is  considered  a  healthful  food,  and  the  physique 
of  the  Hawaiians  tends  to  confirm  this  opinion.  It  is 
thought  to  be  quite  palatable  by  those  foreigners  who 
have  accustomed  themselves  to  it;  but  the  manner  of 
eating  it  which  is  de  rigeur  is  hardly  alluring  to  many 
strangers.     We  may  safely  assume  that  the  first  human 


ECONOMIC    AGRICULTURE  191 

beings  to  establish  themselves  in  Hawaii  brought  with 
them  some  of  the  kalo  roots,  and  that  from  those  the 
plant  has  been  propagated. 

The  small  amount  of  manual  labour  which  the  culti- 
vation of  yams  and  sweet  potatoes  involved  scarcely 
justify  its  being  called  serious  agriculture.  This,  then, 
represents  the  farmer's  effort  in  olden  times.  Turn- 
ing, now,  to  the  tremendous  changes  which  have  been 
wrought  since  the  country  was  opened  to  strangers,  it 
is  but  right  to  give,  first,  the  present  opinions  of  the 
soil.  For  the  information  given  here,  credit  is  due  to 
Mr.  E.  V.  Wilcox,  Special  Agent  in  charge  of  the 
Hawaii  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  through  Mr. 
H.  P.  Wood,  Director  of  the  Hawaii  Promotion  Com- 
mittee. The  soils  are  sometimes  classified  as  red, 
yellow,  and  black.  The  red  and  yellow  colours  are  due 
to  the  presence  of  iron  oxide;  the  yellow  soils  being 
more  completely  transformed  and  somewhat  less  fer- 
tile than  the  reds.  The  black  soils  owe  their  colour 
to  the  presence  of  humus,  magnetic  iron  oxide,  titanium, 
or  manganese. 

The  soils  are  generally  deep;  some  were  evidently 
decomposed  in  place,  others  are  partly  due  to  the 
washing  from  higher  levels.  Physically,  the  soils  are 
granular,  as  a  rule;  yet  in  places  they  are  similar  to 
precipitated  chalk,  being  almost  an  impalpable  powder. 
In  other  localities  the  pronounced  granulation  gives 
rise  to  the  term  "shotty  soil."  Most  of  the  soils  be- 
come sticky  when  wet,  but  they  quickly  disintegrate 
again  upon  drying  out.  The  chemical  composition  of 
the  soils  is  highly  satisfactory. 


192  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

When  ploughed  deeply,  the  soils  are  exceedingly 
retentive  of  moisture,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact 
that  cotton  and  various  other  plants  thrive  in  a  wild 
state,  where  rain  falls  only  once  or  twice  a  year,  and 
then  only  to  the  extent  of  one  or  two  inches.  Moreover, 
good  crops  of  alfalfa,  and  forty  bushels  of  Indian  corn 
to  the  acre,  have  been  raised  with  but  twelve  inches  of 
rainfall,  without  irrigation. 

One  of  the  most  important  matters  in  soil  cultivation, 
demonstrated  by  the  sugar  planters,  is  the  enormous 
value  of  deep  ploughing.  Some  places  are  commonly 
ploughed  to  a  depth  of  two  or  three  feet,  and  are  thus 
put  in  condition  to  store  the  rainfall  for  the  benefit  of 
the  crops.  The  soils  are  easily  kept  in  good  tilth  and 
great  fertility  by  deep  ploughing,  suitable  crop  rota- 
tion, and  the  application  of  fertilisers  to  replace  special 
elements  of  plant  food  removed  by  the  crops. 

One  of  the  chief  obstacles  met  with  in  farming  in 
Hawaii  is  the  impervious  character  of  the  soil  and  the 
difficulty  of  maintaining  good  drainage.  The  soil 
below  the  level  of  cultivation  may  become  so  packed 
as  to  be  almost  impervious  to  water  and  air.  Under 
these  conditions,  the  plant  food  in  the  soil  is  inert  and 
not  available,  while  the  addition  of  fertiUsers  has  little 
beneficial  effect. 

One  of  the  first  problems  in  successful  agriculture  in 
Hawaii  therefore  is  concerned  with  the  physical  prop- 
erties of  the  soil.  Some  of  the  remarkable  results 
obtained  in  the  growth  of  sugar-cane  and  also  with 
pineapples  are  assuredly  due  to  deep  ploughing,  some- 
times to  a  depth  of  twenty-six  inches  and  more.     In 


SuGAK  Cane 


Sugar  Mill 


ECONOMIC     AGRICULTURE  193 

some  of  the  more  compact  soils  it  appears  desirable  to 
cause  crevices  deeper  than  even  steam-ploughs  can  go. 
Recent  experiments  with  dynamite  in  such  soils  indi- 
cate that  the  drainage  is  greatly  improved  and  this  of 
course  will  mean  a  better  aeration  of  the  soil  and  the 
more  ready  availability  of  the  plant  food.  Because 
of  the  range  of  altitude  on  the  different  islands,  it  is 
easy  to  find  conditions  suitable  for  the  growth  of  almost 
every  agricultural  crop  of  the  world.  At  present 
sugar  is  the  main  agricultural  product;  but  there  are 
besides  large  plantations  of  coffee,  rice,  sisal,  rubber- 
trees,  fruits,  forage  plants,  etc.  Various  kinds  of 
grasses  that  cure  well  for  hay,  alfalfa,  matting-fibre 
plants,  tobacco,  Indian  corn,  cotton,  wheat,  and  other 
cereals,  sorghum,  manila  hemp,  Sanseveria  (the  "bow- 
string hemp"  of  India),  and  other  field  crops  are  to  be 
seen  in  various  parts  of  the  archipelago,  and  all  are  in 
thriving  condition. 

In  the  cultivation  of  fruits,  there  is  practically  no 
limit,  either  in  the  fruits  of  temperate  climates  upon 
the  high  lands,  or  of  tropical  fruits  at  or  near  sea-level. 
The  fruits  and  nuts  actually  grown  at  the  present  time 
include  pineapple,  banana,  mango,  orange,  citron, 
lemon,  mandarin  orange  (the  loose  skin  variety), 
pumelo  (the  East  Indian  cousin  of  the  grapefruit), 
shaddock  (similar  to  the  pumelo,  but  larger),  lime,  true 
grapefruit,  avocado  (alligator  pear),  fig,  cocoanut, 
vanilla-bean,  strawberry  (both  the  developed  native 
and  exotics),  roselle,  papaia,  mangosteen,  kumquat, 
loquat,  monstera,  sour  sop,  sweet  sop,  custard  apple, 
cherimoya,  macadamia  nut,  betel  nut,  dates,  mountain 


194  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

apple,  rose  apple,  water  apple,  cayenne  cherry,  bush 
cherry,  jambolan  plum,  water  lemon,  guava,  grenadilla, 
tamarind,  cacao,  castor  bean,  annatto,  ginger,  cashew 
nut,  mammee  apple,  star  apple,  oil  palm  seeds,  tuna, 
ohello  berry,  carambola,  breadfruit,  durian,  pome- 
granate, Otaheite  gooseberry,  peach,  apple,  cherry, 
apricot,  kukui  nut,  bhel  fruit  (Bengal  quince),  indigo, 
sapodilla  plum,  longan,  leitchee,  wii,  poha,  wampii, 
cinnamon,  cinchona,  vegetable  ivory  palm,  and  nearly 
all  of  the  known  palms. 

In  the  way  of  kitchen  garden  vegetables,  almost  the 
entire  list  of  such  crops  can  be  successfully  raised, 
including  sweet  potato,  Irish  potato,  kalo,  pia  or 
cassava,  tomato,  pepper,  cabbage,  onion,  beet,  radish, 
lettuce,  asparagus,  beans,  peas,  turnip,  carrot,  melons, 
squash,  pumpkin,  egg-plant,  celery,  cauliflower,  spinach; 
and  a  long  Hst  of  oriental  vegetables  used  almost  ex- 
clusively by  the  Asiatics.  In  the  line  of  legumes, 
farmers  are  growing  cow  peas,  soy  beans.  Jack  beans, 
alfalfa,  pigeon  pea,  lupines,  beans,  peas,  sulla,  etc. 

The  Territory  of  Hawaii  may  be  said  to  be  capable 
of  developing  an  almost  absolute  independence,  so  far 
as  food  supplies,  materials  for  wearing  apparel,  and 
woods  for  fuel  and  building  are  concerned.  The  long 
list  of  food  products  which  has  been  given  shows  that 
the  islands  have  virtually  everything  which  could  be 
desired  in  that  direction.  The  annual  output  of  honey 
now  exceeds  one  thousand  tons,  and  this  is  an  industry 
which  has  not  been  actively  prosecuted. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  fibre  plants  and  materials 
for  wearing  apparel  should  note  that  Hawaiian  sisal 


ECONOMIC     AGRICULTURE  195 

ranks  the  very  highest  in  the  market;  that  the  cotton 
has  been  declared  by  the  Bremen  Cotton  Exchange 
to  be  of  the  finest  quality  that  its  officials  have  ever 
seen;  and  that  in  addition  to  those  fibres  there  can  be 
produced  manila  hemp,  bowstring  hemp,  a  long  list  of 
useful  native  fibres,  silk,  and  wool. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  farmer  from  any  other  country 
may  make,  in  Hawaii,  that  selection  which  will  best 
suit  his  own  purposes.  Many  of  the  crops  which  have 
been  demonstrated  to  be  possible  profit-makers  have 
not  yet  been  developed  as  commercial  ventures;  but 
for  such  commercial  and  remunerative  development 
nothing  more  is  needed  than  farmers  of  skill  and  in- 
dustry. Yet  it  must  be  noted  that,  of  these  relatively 
small  agricultural  possibilities,  there  are  comparatively 
few  which  hold  promise  of  really  tempting  profits. 
The  important  industries  of  Hawaii  are  sugar,  pine- 
apples, rice,  rubber,  sisal,  coffee,  tobacco,  bananas, 
cotton,  and  hemp.  To  each  of  these  a  few  minutes' 
consideration  will  be  given  presently. 

Incidentally,  there  are  tempting  profits  to  be  secured 
in  raising  cattle,  both  for  beef  and  for  dairy  purposes, 
as  well  as  poultry  of  all  kinds;  but  these  are  industries 
which  cater  rather  to  a  domestic  consumptive  demand 
than  are  to  be  prosecuted  for  export.  Nevertheless, 
the  home  market  is  already  so  large  and  is  so  rapidly 
developing  that  there  is  little  danger  of  overdoing  the 
dairy  and  poultry  business.  Each  of  the  great  and 
subordinate  industries  which  have  just  been  mentioned 
is  naturally  limited  to  certain  sections  where  soil  and 
climatic  conditions  are  such  as  to  give  promise  of  remu- 


196  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

neration  commensurate  with  the  capital  invested  and 
the  labour  bestowed. 

Sugar-cane  is  apparently  indigenous,  certainly  Cook 
found  the  natives  cultivating  it  and  using  it  for  food. 
Whether  the  first  Hawaiians  brought  it  with  them,  or 
found  it  ready  to  their  hands,  is  a  problem  which  need 
not  be  discussed  here.  The  first  exportation  was  made 
in  1837;  in  1908,  the  yield  was  over  half  a  milHon  tons, 
valued  at  forty  million  dollars.  Several  varieties  are 
grown  with  comparatively  equal  success  in  appropriate 
locaHties.  Much  scientific  attention  is  given  to  this 
industry.  The  Sugar  Planters'  Association  maintains 
an  Experiment  Station,  by  assessment  upon  its  various 
company  members,  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  are 
expended  annually.  Over  two  hundred  thousand 
acres  are  planted  in  sugar-cane,  partly  on  lands  owned 
outright  by  the  planters,  partly  on  leased  land.  About 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  this  land  have  been 
reclaimed  by  irrigation,  at  an  expense  of  fifteen  milHon 
dollars.  About  forty-one  thousand  tons  of  fertiHsers, 
in  addition  to  stable  manure,  are  used  annually.  The 
machinery  equipment  of  this  industry  and  the  others 
which  are  alhed  to  it  is  all  that  can  be  suppHed  by 
science. 

Wherever  there  are  Asiatics,  there  will  be  a  large 
consumption  of  rice,  and,  if  physical  and  chmatic 
conditions  are  favourable,  its  cultivation  will  be 
promptly  undertaken.  Rice  was  introduced  into 
Hawaii  as  a  commercial  cereal  in  1858.  In  1862  the 
first  export  was  made.  At  the  present  time  some 
twelve  thousand  acres  are  cultivated  in  rice,  and  the 


ECONOMIC     AGRICULTURE  197 

crop  is  valued  at  two  and  a  half  million  dollars.  This 
industry  is  naturally  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Chinese. 
It  has  brought  about  an  addition  to  the  fauna  of  the 
archipelago,  for  no  Chinese  would  admit  the  possibility 
of  cultivating  rice  without  the  assistance  of  his  water- 
buffalo. 

Pineapples,  a  small  native  variety  (probably  not 
indigenous)  of  excellent  flavour,  were  found  by  the 
earliest  European  residents.  As  an  industry  the 
growing  of  this  fruit  dates  from  1890.  Some  six 
thousand  acres  are  given  to  this  plant;  the  export  runs 
over  three  hundred  thousand  cases  of  tinned,  and  one 
thousand  tons  of  fresh,  fruit:  the  former  alone  having 
a  value  of  some  four  million  dollars.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  this  industry  is  susceptible  of  large 
development;  yet  being  a  luxury,  the  demand  for  pine- 
apples must  always  be  somewhat  uncertain. 

Experiments  with  rubber  trees  were  made  at  various 
places  in  the  archipelago  some  years  before  annexation; 
but  the  first  regular  companies  for  the  serious  prosecu- 
tion of  this  industry  were  organised  in  1905.  While 
hardly  yet  past  the  experimental  stage,  it  appears  to 
be  reasonably  certain  that  this  crop  will  eventually  be 
a  source  of  great  profit.  The  greatest  attention  is 
being  given  to  methods  of  cultivation,  tapping,  and 
curing.  Already  the  output  is  something  Kke  seventy- 
five  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  it  is  readily  sold  in 
competition  with  the  best  Ceylon  Hevea  rubber,  fetch- 
ing within  five  cents  a  pound  of  the  price  of  that 
standard  article. 

Sisal  is  the  familiar  henequen  of  Florida,  the  Baha- 


IqS  the     coming     HAWAII 

mas,  many  parts  of  Central  America,  and  the  West 
Indies.  It  is  valuable  for  cordage,  either  alone  or 
mixed  with  Manila  hemp,  and  is  also  used  for  binder 
twine,  making  bags,  hammocks,  and  similar  articles. 
It  is  the  only  fibre  plant  that  is  at  present  grown  on  a 
commercial  scale  in  Hawaii.  The  plant  was  introduced 
in  1893,  and  there  are  now  about  fifteen  hundred  acres 
given  to  it;  the  output  is  about  two  hundred  tons  of 
fibre,  valued  at  twenty  thousand  dollars.  To  achieve 
its  possible  maximum  in  value,  this  plant  should  be 
more  extensively  planted.  Experiments  have  demon- 
strated the  absolute  necessity  for  great  care  in  planting 
and  cultivating. 

Apparently  some  adventurous  European  experi- 
menter tried  growing  coffee  for  the  first  time,  in  Hawaii, 
in  181 7.  After  varying  vicissitudes,  the  success  of  this 
industry  was  eventually  accomplished,  and  there  are 
now  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  acres  planted. 
The  export  runs  to  some  twenty-five  thousand  bags, 
and  the  value  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars  annually.  Competition  in  the  coffee  markets 
of  the  world  is  very  keen;  hence  the  margin  of  profit 
is  small.  Efforts  are  being  made  in  the  territory  to 
bring  the  grower  into  direct  relations  with  the  con- 
sumer. The  quality  of  Hawaiian  coffee  is  excellent, 
the  flavour  and  aroma  being  mild;  but  it  requires 
sUghtly  different  treatment  in  roasting  from  that 
recommended  for  the  coffees  of  Porto  Rico,  Central 
and  South  America. 

The  native  Hawaiians  soon  acquired  the  tobacco 
habit  from  Europeans  and  long  grew  a  coarse,  strong 


ECONOMIC     AGRICULTURE  199 

leaf  which  they  used  chiefly  for  smoking.  Americans 
began  experiments  with  good  grades  less  than  ten 
years  ago.  There  are  three  companies  organised,  two 
of  which  already  are  marketing  their  crops,  grown  from 
either  Cuban  or  Sumatra  seed.  The  output  is  probably 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  eighty  thousand  pounds. 
Further  experiments  are  needed  in  curing  and  packing, 
yet  the  leaf  is  meeting  with  favour  in  the  American 
markets.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  when  manu- 
facturers of  cigars  for  local  consumption  have  accom- 
plished their  task,  there  may  be  little  to  send  away. 

It  is  thought  that  of  the  fifty  odd  varieties  of  ba- 
nanas now  growing  in  the  islands,  some  twenty  were 
indigenous.  The  fact  that  there  are  jungles  of  this 
plant,  growing  wild  on  nearly  all  the  islands,  demon- 
strates the  adaptability  of  soil  and  cHmate.  The  two 
varieties  chiefly  grown  for  shipping  are  the  Bluefield 
and  the  Chinese;  the  latter  is,  perhaps,  a  httle  better 
than  the  former,  but  does  not  bear  shipment  so  well. 
The  banana  has  so  long  ceased  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
table  luxury,  that  the  demand  can  hardly  fall  off. 
Naturally,  the  Hawaiian  growers  look  upon  the  Pacific 
States  as  their  legitimate  preserve,  and  this  means  an 
enduring  market. 

One  of  the  two  native  cotton  plants,  growing  in 
Cook's  time,  has  been  propagated  and  hybridised  with 
the  Sea  Island  variety.  In  1837  there  was  a  cotton 
mill  on  Hawaii  Island  which  made  good  cloth.  After 
the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States,  1861-1865,  con- 
siderable attention  was  given  to  cotton  planting,  and 
Sea  Island  cotton  of  fine  quality  was  raised  for  several 


200  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

years  on  nearly  all  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  The  recovery 
of  the  Southern  States  acted  to  deter  this  industry  and 
it  fell  off  to  practically  nothing.  Great  attention  has 
lately  been  given  the  matter.  Cotton  has  done  splen- 
didly in  favourable  locaHties  and  it  would  be  one  of 
Hawaii's  staple  products  if  the  pink  boll- worm  could 
be  exterminated.  Hopes  of  doing  this  are  confidently 
expressed  —  at  least  in  the  case  of  the  Caravonica 
plant;  the  Sea  Island  variety  presents  a  more  serious 
problem. 

The  shrinking  in  production  of  Manila  hemp,  which 
began  some  time  before  the  Spanish-American  War  of 
1898,  and  has  persisted  most  lamentably  until  the 
present  time,  has  led  agriculturaHsts  in  various  parts 
of  the  world  to  attempt  the  cultivation  of  this  valuable 
fibre.  Some  who  are  assumed  to  know  all  about  such 
matters  declare  that  Manila  hemp  of  good  quality 
cannot  be  grown  in  any  but  Philippine  soil.  Yet  inas- 
much as  this  plant  is  a  species  of  banana,  and  since  the 
banana  —  in  fifty  odd  varieties  —  does  well,  either 
wild  or  cultivated,  in  Hawaii,  it  has  logically  been 
contended  that  the  Manila  species  should  not  be  an 
exception.  Much  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in 
getting  sound  cuttings  of  the  genuine  article;  it  seems 
almost  as  if  the  Filipinos  were  jealous  of  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Recently  some  seedlings  of  true  Manila 
hemp  were  received  at  the  United  States  Experimental 
Station;  but  even  these  were  in  such  poor  condition 
that  doubts  existed  whether  any  of  them  would  reach 
maturity.  Nevertheless,  territorial  officials  are  con- 
fident of  ultimate  success,  and  when  achieved  a  most 


ECONOMIC     AGRICULTURE  201 

valuable  addition  will  have  been  made  to  Hawaii's 
agricultural  assets.  There  are  many  other  articles 
which  might  be  considered,  but  already  this  chapter 
is  too  long;  and  assuredly  a  suggestion,  at  least,  has 
been  given  of  the  economic  aspects  of  the  territory's 
agriculture. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
OTHER  RESOURCES 

IT  is  clear  from  the  behaviour  of  the  Hawaiian 
natives  when  they  first  made  the  serious  acquaint- 
ance of  Europeans  —  and  that  we  may  properly  say 
was  when  Cook  visited  them  in  1778  —  that  they  had 
practically  no  knowledge  of  metals,  and  were  in  this 
respect  almost  unique  amongst  savage  peoples.  The 
bits  of  iron  of  which  they  seemed  to  have  become 
possessed  in  some  mysterious  way  do  not  really  con- 
tradict the  statement  which  has  just  been  made;  be- 
cause those  two  small  pieces  of  iron  (of  which  Cook 
writes)  were  looked  upon  as  something  almost  magical. 
The  people  themselves  had  not  made  them;  and  even 
if  there  had  been  any  iron  ore  in  their  country,  they 
knew  nothing  about  smelting  it  or  working  the  iron 
they  could  have  made.  Furthermore,  the  Hawaiians 
were  without  any  ornaments  or  vessels  of  gold  or 
silver. 

This  virtually  total  ignorance  of  metals  is  one  very 
strong  argument  for  the  antiquity  of  the  Hawaiian 
race,  as  well  as  for  their  immensely  long  isolation. 
Had  they  been  at  all  accustomed  to  intercourse  with 
peoples  to  the  west  of  them,  they  would  surely  have 
learnt  something  of  the  uses  of  iron,  silver,  and  gold, 
even  if   acquaintance   with   the   South   Sea  Islanders 


OTHER     RESOURCES  203 

could  have  brought  to  them  no  such  knowledge.  While 
disposed  to  concur  in  Wallace's  theory  of  a  connection 
by  land  —  the  great  submerged  island  or  continent 
between  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  remoter  parts 
of  Micronesia  —  yet  the  low  measure  of  culture  noted 
in  the  Hawaiians  of  the  eighteenth  century  indisputably 
puts  such  possible  physical  connection  so  far  back  as  to 
be  of  little  account. 

The  presence  of  metalHc  elements  in  the  soils  of  the 
archipelago  does  not  go  so  far  as  to  indicate  the  exist- 
ence of  actual  metalHferous  ores  in  quantity  which  is 
to  be  mined  and  utilised.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
iron,  as  oxide,  in  the  earth;  there  are  also  phosphorus, 
in  the  form  of  phosphoric  acid,  as  well  as  nitrogen  and 
potash.  Manganese,  too,  is  found  in  much  greater 
volume  than  it  is  in  the  average  soil  of  the  United 
States;  while  titanium,  a  metal  which  is  not  found 
native,  but  is  often  associated  with  iron  ores,  is  also 
relatively  abundant.  Both  manganese  and  titanium 
are  objectionable  chemical  elements  to  have  in  soil; 
the  former,  being  readily  soluble,  tends  to  disturb  the 
balance  between  lime  and  magnesia,  and  the  use  of 
fertilisers  has  little  beneficial  effect  in  controlling  the 
influence  of  manganese.  Unless  some  means  can  be 
found  for  restoring  that  balance  by  introducing  mag- 
nesia into  the  soils  which  are  highly  charged  with 
manganese,  it  will  be  desirable,  if  not  absolutely 
necessary,  to  devote  such  areas  to  the  cultivation  of 
sisal  and  other  crops  upon  which  the  effects  of  man- 
ganese are  either  negative  or  less  marked. 

Although  titanium  shows  but  a  trace  in  the  soil 


204  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

generally,  yet  in  places  its  percentage  runs  as  high  as 
thirty-three  and  one-third  of  the  metalHferous  elements. 
Still,  it  does  not  appear  to  exert  any  direct  injurious 
effect  upon  plants,  seemingly  being  entirely  inert 
towards  their  growth.  Titanium  soils  often  have  a 
bluish-black  colour;  but  this  is  not  to  be  confused 
with  the  chocolate  coloured  or  nearly  black  soils  in 
which  manganese  is  found. 

None  of  these  mineral  elements  can  enter  into  the 
commercial  or  industrial  factors  of  the  archipelago's 
economy;  and  the  list  of  metals  is  therefore  to  be 
represented  by  a  cipher:  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  has 
no  marketable  metals.  Yet  certain  other  mineral 
substances  are  of  some  economic  importance,  although 
in  these  even  the  islands  are  very  poor.  There  is,  of 
course,  a  certain  amount  of  sulphur,  as  must  of  necessity 
be  the  case  in  a  country  wherein  volcanoes  are  active 
and  in  rather  large  numbers,  when  the  total  area  is 
considered.  But  this  sulphur  is  not  usually  in  such 
condition  as  to  be  made  available  in  the  arts. 

We  may,  then,  say  that  there  are  no  metalHferous 
minerals  in  Hawaii,  and  certainly  no  metal  industries. 
This  does  not  mean  that  there  are  no  metal  workers; 
because  the  mills  connected  with  the  sugar  industry, 
and  many  other  important  ones,  demand  foundries 
and  machine-shops.  Of  these  there  are  quite  enough 
to  perform  all  that  is  required  of  them.  The  territory 
is  not,  however,  absolutely  without  some  useful  mineral 
substances.  There  are  great  quantities  of  pumice, 
especially  in  locaUties  adjacent  to  the  active  volcanoes; 
these  have  been  put  to  some  use  in  road  building,  for 


OTHER     RESOURCES  205 

which  purpose  it  is  difficult  to  find  better  material 
when  properly  handled,  brick  making,  and  kindred 
ways.  This  resource  has  not  yet  begun  to  be  worked 
as  it  might  be. 

The  lava  rock  is  of  two  kinds;  that  which  has  been 
completely  fused  and  at  one  time  flowed  in  fiery  streams 
over  the  land  and,  in  places,  down  into  the  sea.  The 
other  lava  rock  has  been  but  partly  fused,  it  is  com- 
monly called  tufa,  and  it  came  forth  during  an  eruption 
in  the  form  of  volcanic  dust  and  larger  particles.  The 
tufa,  of  course,  decomposes  more  readily  than  does 
the  true  lava;  yet  when  time  has  weathered  the  latter 
and  the  roots  of  plants  have  grown  down  into  its  cracks 
and  crevices,  causing  it  to  break  up  and  disintegrate, 
it  makes  a  far  richer  soil  than  the  tufa  does:  of  work- 
able minerals,  however,  neither  carries  anything  of 
importance. 

Besides  these  volcanic  rocks  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  sandstone,  not  a  great  deal,  along  the  coast  in  some 
places,  and  a  great  deal  of  coral  rock  which  has  been 
thrown  above  the  surface  of  the  ocean  and  sometimes 
far  up  on  the  land  by  subterranean  volcanic  action. 
For  building  purposes,  all  these  volcanic  and  non- 
volcanic  rocks  are  used,  more  or  less,  although,  as  a 
rule,  the  buildings  that  are  not  made  of  wood  are  con- 
structed of  concrete,  for  which  the  tufa,  when  properly 
treated,  furnishes  an  admirable  basis.  The  necessary 
lime  for  this  concrete  may  be  had  in  unUmited  quantities 
by  merely  calcining  some  of  the  vast  amounts  of  shells 
that  are  to  be  found  in  every  direction. 

There  are  some  gypsum  and  alum,  as  well  as  large 


2o6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

deposits  of  ochres  which  may  be  utilised  in  making 
mineral  paints. 

Some  salt  is  found  as  deposits  in  lagoons  that  were 
long  ago  cut  off  from  the  sea  and  lifted  up  more  or  less 
by  volcanic  action.  This  salt  is,  however,  of  a  bad 
colour  and  is  not  considered  sufficiently  pure,  without 
expensive  refining,  for  table  use.  The  gathering  of 
salt  must  have  been  quite  an  occupation  for  the  na- 
tives, even  in  prehistoric  times;  for  when  the  islands 
were  re-discovered  by  Cook,  he  and  his  companions 
noted  that  the  people  were  able  to  salt-cure  pork,  and 
this  is  always  considered  a  problem  which  tropical 
peoples  have  the  utmost  difficulty  in  solving.  Salt 
may,  therefore,  be  reckoned  among  the  mineral  assets 
of  the  archipelago. 

That  kaolin,  the  fine  white  clay,  and  sal-ammoniac 
are  counted  among  the  mineral  products  is  but  natural. 
The  former  may  eventually  be  used  in  considerable 
quantities  for  the  manufacture  of  pottery  —  both 
faience,  the  soft  paste,  and  porcelain.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  natives  knew  anything  about  utihsing 
this  clay,  because  their  vessels  for  holding  liquids  were 
always  calabashes  and  smaller  gourds.  Sal-ammoniac, 
found  usually  as  ammonium  chloride,  will  doubtless 
assume  some  importance  in  the  arts. 

But  water  is  a  mineral,  technically,  since  it  cannot 
be  classed  in  either  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdom. 
The  very  important  part  which  water  plays  in  the 
rapidly  developing  agricultural  and  industrial  interests 
of  the  territory  makes  it  worthy  of  receiving  some 
attention  here;    perhaps  not  so  much  for  itself  as  for 


OTHER     RESOURCES  207 

the  ways  in  which  it  is  used  practically.  As  a  rule  the 
islands  are  all  well  supplied  with  water,  although  some 
important  exceptions  have  been  already  noted.  The 
drinking  water  is  everywhere  good  and  strangers  need 
have  no  hesitation  in  partaking  of  it  freely.  There  are, 
of  course,  some  people  who  are  easily  affected  by 
strange  water;  if  these  find  themselves  inconvenienced 
at  first,  the  temporary  disorder  must  not  be  attributed 
to  any  serious  unwholesomeness  of  the  water:  its 
effect,  if  contributing  to  bowel  trouble,  will  pass  away 
in  a  day  or  so. 

The  island  of  Kauai  is  the  best  supplied  with 
streams  which  may  be  harnessed  by  man  and 
made  to  give  their  power  for  useful  purposes.  On 
this  island  is  established  a  large  electric  plant  which 
supplies  light  and  power  for  the  most  distant  parts 
of  the  island,  and  the  hydraulic  capacity  of  the 
streams  has  hardly  been  tapped.  Water  rights  is  a 
subject  which  takes  us  back  to  the  time  when  the 
kings  of  Hawaii  were  certainly  as  many,  when  reign- 
ing contemporaneously,  as  there  were  independent 
islands;  and  in  prehistoric  times  there  were  probably 
more  often  a  dozen,  than  just  eight  or  one  for  each 
unit  of  the  archipelago. 

The  matter  of  water  rights  is  one  which  will  probably 
not  be  productive  of  serious  trouble  in  the  future,  if 
the  existing  wise  system  of  government  is  perpetuated, 
and  old  custom  recognised  as  a  safe  precedent  to  follow. 
As  a  specific  case  will  be  more  satisfactory  than  a 
general  discussion,  especially  when  that  specific  case 
applies  in  general  principles  to  all  parts  of  the  territory, 


208  THE    COMING    HAWAII 

a  short  resume  of  a  paper  on  Hawaiian  water  rights  is 
given  here.* 

It  was  the  act  of  King  Kamehameha  III  (reigned 
1824  to  1854)  that  made  the  titles  to  both  land  and 
water  rights  definite  and  secure.  The  transition  from 
the  ancient  state  of  affairs,  when  the  king  was  the  ab- 
solute owner  of  all  the  land  and  water  in  the  kingdom, 
through  a  period  wherein  titles  in  individuals  were  in 
embryo,  indefinite  and  almost  indefensible,  to  the  pres- 
sent  condition  of  clearly  defined  metes  and  bounds  with 
absolute  certainty  of  title  in  fee-simple,  was  accom- 
plished in  scarcely  more  than  ten  years,  in  the  case  of 
the  land  itself,  although  the  period  was  not  quite  so 
brief  and  decisive  with  water  rights. 

From  the  very  earhest  time  at  which  we  can  get 
even  a  glimpse  at  those  rights  to  use  water  for  irriga- 
tion purposes,  they  seem  to  have  been  the  subject  of 
minute  regulation.  The  term  mahele,  meaning  literally 
to  divide  up,  was  used  specifically  as  to  land;  but  it 
was  also  made  to  include  the  division  of  streams  of 
water  for  use  in  agriculture.  There  was,  however,  a 
more  definite  term,  kanawai,  literally,  ''water  rights," 
which  originally  signified  those  rights  specifically,  even 
if  it  did  come  to  have  a  wider  range,  denoting  a  law  or 
laws  upon  any  subject  whatever.  The  very  first  laws 
or  royal  rules  of  any  importance  which  the  ancient 
Hawaiians  seem  to  have  had  were  those  relating  to  the 
use  of  water  in  cultivating  the  fields. 

*  A  paper  read  at  the  Annual  Dinner  of  the  Hawaiian  Bar  Associa- 
tion, June  15,  1912,  by  the  Hon.  Antonio  Perry,  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Hawaii.     See  The  Hawaiian  Annual  for  1913,  p.  90. 


OTHER     RESOURCES  2O9 

Inasmuch  as  farming  was  not  then  carried  on  upon  a 
large  scale,  the  supply  of  water  was  usually  ample  for 
the  requirements  of  the  fields  of  kalo  and  the  little 
patches  of  sugar  cane,  sweet  potatoes,  possibly  a  ba- 
nana grove,  and  one  or  two  other  vegetables  for  which 
artificial  irrigation  was  required.  The  most  important 
factor  in  the  distribution  of  water  was  the  main  ditch, 
a-wa  or  auwai.  Each  of  these  had  to  be  sanctioned  by 
the  king,  or  one  or  more  of  the  powerful  chiefs  whose 
lands  were  to  be  benefited  by  the  water  to  flow  therein. 
The  supervision  of  the  actual  constructing  of  these  a-wa 
was  entrusted  to  that  chief  (when  two  or  more  cooper- 
ated) who  provided  the  largest  number  of  workmen.  It 
may  be  stated  here  that  the  building  and  maintenance 
of  irrigating  systems  was  about  the  only  form  of  forced 
labour  to  which  the  common  people  did  not  object. 

When  the  main  ditch  was  completed,  the  division  of 
the  water  was  determined  by  the  proportions  in  which 
each  chief  had  furnished  labour.  Each  chief  then 
allotted  to  his  hoaaina,  husbandmen,  a  share  of  the 
water  that  was,  again,  determined  by  the  same  rule  of 
amount  of  labour  given ;  because  some  of  those  farmers 
not  only  worked  themselves,  but  brought  to  the  task 
other  members  of  their  families  who  could  not  lawfully 
be  forced  to  help.  It  is  apparent  that  this  system  of 
final  distribution  of  water  to  the  fields,  as  determined 
by  the  actual  labour  supplied,  was  the  equivalent  of  a 
system  of  irrigation  in  accordance  with  the  acreage 
cultivated;  because  each  chief  and  farmer  would  try 
to  contribute,  indirectly  or  directly,  to  the  needed 
labour  in  order  to  secure  a  maximum  of  benefit. 


2IO  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

It  was  certainly  an  effective  way  to  encourage  this 
form  of  industry,  agriculture,  and  develop  the  resources 
of  the  kingdom  as  the  modest  requirements  of  the 
people  then  demanded.  The  importance  which  the  Ha- 
waiians  placed  upon  this  cultivation  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  one  of  the  prescriptive  causes  for  dispossession 
by  the  king  was  the  failure  of  the  farmer  to  render  his 
plot  productive.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  any 
hoaaina  who  increased  his  contribution  of  labour 
towards  the  maintenance  of  main  and  distributing 
ditches  was  sure  to  be  rewarded  by  having  his  allot- 
ment of  land  increased;  while  he  who  had  been  thus 
favoured  and  subsequently  failed  to  cultivate  all  his 
land  was  deprived  of  all  water  save  that  which  was 
necessary  for  the  cultivated  portion. 

The  work  of  constructing  a  dam,  as  well  as  the 
necessary  main  canal  and  distributing  ditches,  was 
attended  with  much  rejoicing,  song,  and  feasting, 
together  with  solemn  religious  ceremonies.  The  day 
was  determined  with  the  assistance  of  the  local  priest 
and  the  chiefs  furnished  awa  to  regale  this  important 
personage,  as  well  as  food  in  abundance  for  him  and 
all  the  workmen.  Prayers  were  addressed  to  the  local 
water-god,  invoking  his  assistance  and  protection. 
After  the  feast,  all  the  refuse  was  buried  in  the  cere- 
monial oven,  imu,  which  had  been  made  in  what  was 
to  be  the  bed  of  the  canal,  and  in  which  imu  the  cooked 
portions  of  the  food  had  been  baked.  The  dam  was 
quickly  built  and  the  water  turned  into  the  new  channel 
to  pass  over  the  imu. 

Those  dams  were  built  with  loose  stones,  lumps  of 


OTHER     RESOURCES  211 

earth,  and  clods  of  grass,  being  purposely  made  not 
absolutely  watertight  in  order  that  some  fluid  might 
continue  to  pass  down  the  natural  bed  of  the  stream. 
No  dam  was  permitted  to  divert  more  than  one-half 
the  water  flowing  in  the  stream  at  its  normal  height  at 
the  point  of  divergence,  and  thus  the  riparian  rights  of 
others  lower  down  the  stream  were  recognised  and 
respected. 

One  very  interesting  feature  of  this  old  irrigating 
system  was  the  manner  in  which  the  actual  distribution 
of  the  water  to  the  plots  was  determined.  Each  farmer, 
or  group  of  them  if  their  fields  permitted,  was  to  have 
the  flow  of  water  at  different  times  and  for  a  Hmited 
period.  As  the  Hawaiians'  ideas  of  the  time  of  day 
and  the  duration  of  time  were  not  exact,  the  irrigation 
was  regulated  by  the  position  of  the  sun  and  that  of  the 
stars.  In  some  instances  of  large  and  contiguous 
tracts,  the  allotment  was  during  all  night  to  one,  and 
all  day  to  the  other  during  the  term  of  days  necessary 
to  water  all  the  subdivisions  of  the  entire  tract;  fol- 
lowed by  an  exchange  of  night  and  day  use  between 
the  tracts,  and  then  an  exchange  again  at  the  end  of 
the  term,  and  so  on  continuously:  the  advantages  of 
irrigating  at  night  being  obvious. 

Another  plan  was  for  each  tract,  beginning  with  the 
highest,  to  take,  irrespective  of  time,  all  the  water  it 
needed,  and  then  the  water  was  permitted  to  spill  over 
onto  the  next  lower  until  its  requirements  were  satisfied, 
and  so  on  until  the  very  lowest  was  reached.  When 
this  level  had  been  sufficiently  irrigated,  the  process 
was   begun   over  again.     Eventually,   this  last  men- 


212  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

tioned  method  appears  to  have  supplanted  the  other,  as, 
in  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  would  seem  to  have 
been  but  natural. 

The  use  of  water  was  very  strictly  superintended  by 
officers  appointed  by  the  chief  whose  serfs  the  husband- 
men to  be  benefited  were.  In  dry  seasons,  the  right 
was  recognised  by  those  superintendents  to  transfer 
water  from  lands  which  might  have  more  than  was  ab- 
solutely necessary,  to  those  in  imminent  need.  This 
same  right  is  said  to  have  been  claimed  and  exercised 
in  some  instances  as  lately  as  within  fifteen  years  of 
annexation:  that  it  is  now  recognised  need  not  be 
affirmed.  For  unjustifiable  interference  with  a  dam 
or  breaking  down  the  dikes  of  a  canal,  it  was  permissi- 
ble for  anyone  to  kill  the  offender,  and  the  body  was 
placed  in  the  breach  made  by  the  culprit  as  a  warning 
to  others.  If,  however,  the  oft'ender  happened  to  be 
a  person  of  some  importance,  his  death  might  cause 
trouble,  and  lead  to  reprisal. 

When  ownership  of  land  by  metes  and  bounds  was 
determined  and  title  in  fee-simple  granted,  and  espe- 
cially after  the  foreigners  came  to  have  interests  as 
agriculturahsts,  there  were  occasionally  some  misunder- 
standings about  these  water  rights;  these  were  aug- 
mented in  certain  localities  by  the  decreased  rainfall 
consequent  upon  deforestation.  The  urgency  of  such 
cases  was  recognised  by  the  competent  authorities,  for 
in  one  particular  instance  (it  happened  in  1884)  the  de- 
fendant was  ordered  "to  remove  the  obstructions  in  the 
canal  and  open  a  free  passage  for  the  water  to  plaintiff's 
land  and  that  he  give  him  water  to-morrow  morning  ^ 


OTHER    RESOURCES  213 

While  the  existing  territorial  government  is  consist- 
ently strict  in  recognising  rights  to  real  property  as 
well  as  the  essential  water  privileges  of  agricultural 
land,  some  of  the  extremely  rigid  laws  and  regulations 
of  former  times  have  been  equitably  relaxed.  For 
example:  it  is  now  held  that  the  mere  failure  to  use 
water  and  achieve  the  maximum  productive  capacity 
of  the  land  does  not  operate  as  a  forfeiture  of  any  rights. 
Also  that  the  water  to  which  a  certain  tract  of  land  is 
entitled  may  be  diverted  by  the  owner  to  other  fields, 
not  necessarily  his  own;  but  always  it  is  held  that  the 
irrigation  right  of  lower  tracts  is  to  be  respected.  In 
all  respects  these  rights  are  to  be  held  and  administered 
in  entire  consistence  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Water  rights  are  destined  to  play  an  important  part 
in  the  future  of  Hawaii,  just  as  they  have  done  in 
the  past.  The  growth  of  urban  communities  and  the 
amazingly  rapid  agricultural  development  of  the  terri- 
tory render  inevitable  the  conservation  and  use  in 
an  increasing  degree  of  the  available  waters,  with  the 
probable  consolidation  of  some  rights  and  new  distribu- 
tion of  others.  The  subject  of  water  rights  deals  with 
a  most  important  resource  of  the  archipelago,  and  it 
will  lose  none  of  its  interest  with  the  passing  of  time. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
THE   CHINESE  IN   THE  ARCHIPELAGO 

JUST  when  the  first  Chinese  arrived  in  Hawaii  is  not 
a  matter  of  much  importance.  It  is  evident  there 
were  none  living  there  at  the  time  of  Cook's  visit,  1778, 
because  he  would  almost  certainly  have  heard  of  them 
and  commented  upon  them,  in  spite  of  his  manifest 
jealousy  of  all  other  "discoverers."  It  is  equally  clear 
that  the  Hawaiians  at  that  time  knew  nothing  of  the 
Chinese,  for  their  peculiar  dress  and  style  of  dressing 
the  hair,  as  well  as  their  distinctive  racial  characteris- 
tics, would  have  so  impressed  the  natives  as  to  lead 
them  to  speak  of  the  strangers  from  the  West  to  the 
new-comers  from  the  East. 

Just  as  soon  as  Europeans  estabhshed  themselves 
in  the  kingdom  of  Kamehameha  I,  they  gave  their 
attention  to  the  commercial  possibihties  of  the  land, 
because  it  was  those  that  had  attracted  them,  and 
they  were  promptly  impressed  with  the  certainty  of 
making  large  fortunes  by  exporting  sandalwood  to 
China.  This  business  brought  about  indirect  inter- 
course between  Hawaiians  and  Chinese  and  was  the 
reason  for  the  latter's  calUng  the  former's  country 
"The  Land  of  Sandalwood." 

In  the  year  181 6  King  Kamehameha  I  became  im- 
pressed by  the  fact  that  many  foreigners  within  his 


I 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  215 

domain  were  acquiring  handsome  returns  from  this 
sandalwood  trade  with  China,  and  he  determined  to 
take  a  hand  in  it  himself.  Accordingly  he  purchased 
a  foreign-built  vessel,  refitted  her,  and  loaded  her 
with  a  full  cargo  of  the  valuable  wood.  He  engaged 
the  services  of  some  English  seamen  to  do  the  navi- 
gating, but  he  appointed  a  Hawaiian  supercargo  and 
fiscal  agent,  and  despatched  the  vessel  to  Canton. 

It  is  known  that  the  sandalwood  sold  for  highly 
remunerative  prices,  and  Kamehameha's  expectations 
of  a  handsome  profit  ought  to  have  been  realised; 
but  they  were  not.  This  ship  was  the  very  first  to 
show  the  Hawaiian  flag  in  a  foreign  port,  and  it  is  to 
be  more  than  suspected  that  she  was  not  treated  fairly 
or  even  honestly  at  Canton.  At  any  rate,  when  the 
supercargo  rendered  his  accounts  of  pilot  fees,  port 
charges.  Customs  exactions,  stevedoring,  and  the 
expenses  of  officers  and  crew  while  in  the  foreign  port 
—  and  that  last  item  covered  an  amount  of  dissipation 
which  was  absolutely  criminal  —  instead  of  there 
being  a  profitable  return  upon  the  venture,  Kame- 
hameha  found  he  had  to  meet  a  loss  of  more  than 
three  thousand  dollars. 

But  we  may  note,  with  some  satisfaction,  if  we  view 
the  episode  from  the  king's  standpoint,  that  Kame- 
hameha's experience  taught  him  one  lesson  from  which 
he  proceeded  to  derive  substantial  profits  that  re- 
couped his  three  thousand  dollars  many  times  over. 
From  the  date  of  the  sandalwood  vessel's  return  and 
the  auditing  of  her  accounts,  the  imposition  of  pilotage 
dues,    port   charges,    etc.,    brought   to    the   Hawaiian 


2l6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

treasury  a  considerable  revenue  each  year;  even  if  the 
foreign  merchants  and  shipmasters  did  demur ! 

Chinese  people,  merchants  especially,  have  the  habit 
of  keeping  watch  upon  their  over-seas  ventures  by 
going  in  person  with  them  or  following  them  closely, 
to  see  how  such  matters  are  conducted  abroad:  this 
is  just  one  of  the  secrets  of  their  success.  It  is 
probable,  therefore,  that  it  was  the  sandalwood  trade 
which  first  induced  the  Chinese  to  visit  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  Whether  that  is  true  or  not,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  in  the  very  early  years  of  the  last  century,  a  small 
number  of  Chinese  settled  in  the  archipelago.  These 
apparently  did  not  take  with  them  any  of  their  own 
women,  which  is  rather  another  habit  of  the  Chinese; 
and  they  promptly  found  wives  amongst  the  native 
women.  They  prospered  greatly,  because  it  was  only 
a  short  time  till  the  sandalwood  business  had  been  far 
outdone  by  profitable  trade  in  many  other  articles  im- 
ported from  China,  and  the  comparatively  few  which 
could  be  exported  advantageously  to  that  country. 

Anticipating  a  little,  for  convenience  in  carrying  out 
the  discussion  continuously,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  during 
the  Hawaiian  monarchy  something  like  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  Chinese  were  naturalised.  From  some  of 
those  who  thus  expatriated  themselves,  and  all  of 
whom  married  Hawaiians,  occasionally  ladies  of  good 
families,  have  descended  families  who  are  now  classed 
with  the  patricians  of  the  population;  some  of  the 
nobility  even  have  a  strain  of  Chinese  blood.  In 
most  cases  the  purity  of  the  Hawaiian  or  Mongolian 
blood  has  become  so  affected  by  marriage  with  Cau- 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  217 

casians  that  it  is  not  now  possible  to  detect  any 
difference  between  the  grandchildren  or  great  grand- 
children of  those  early  Chinese,  and  the  offspring  of 
the  purest  American  or  European  strain. 

Wherever  Chinese  men  go  without  their  true  wives, 
or  as  actual  bachelors,  it  is  their  custom  to  establish 
homes  and  to  rear  famiUes  by  marrying  the  native 
women,  if  the  latter  will  consent;  and  it  is  astonishing 
how  wilHng  those  native  women  are  to  accept  Chinese 
as  husbands.  The  truth  of  this  statement  is  demon- 
strated by  studying  conditions  in  any  country  of  the 
globe,  our  own  not  excepted,  where  there  are  perma- 
nent colonies  of  Chinese.  These  Celestials  certainly 
do  make  good  husbands,  for  there  are  no  men  on  earth 
more  devoted  to  their  homes,  or  more  considerate  of 
their  wives,  or  more  affectionate  to  their  children. 
Of  course  there  are  disagreeable  exceptions;  but  be- 
cause there  are  brutal  American  men,  that  does  not 
demolish  the  American's  reputation  for  being  a  good 
husband  and  a  kind  father. 

Yet  whether  the  women  be  Hawaiians,  or  Malays, 
or  Japanese,  or  Americans,  there  is  always  great  danger 
for  them  in  these  marital  alHances  with  Chinese.  The 
most  important  duty  in  life  which  devolves  upon  a 
loyal  and  fiKal  Chinese  man  is  to  perpetuate  his 
family  by  having  a  son  of  pure  blood;  although  a 
substitute  by  adoption  may  be  permitted  in  certain 
very  exceptional  contingencies.  Without  that  son, 
there  is  no  one  to  see  that  the  father  is  properly  buried, 
and  to  perform  the  essential,  obligatory  worship  at  the 
ancestral  tombs  or  before  the  family  tablets;   because 


2l8  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

no  woman  can  do  this,  and  no  son  of  mixed  blood 
would  be  permitted  to,  even  if  he  were  wilHng. 

Now,  marriage  was  not  a  matter  left  to  the  young 
Chinese  man  to  arrange  for  himself.  If  his  parents 
could  not  make  a  choice  that  was  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves, or  were  unwilHng  to  do  so  —  as  was  almost 
always  the  case  —  they  called  in  the  assistance  of  a 
go-between,  marriage  broker,  who  found  for  the  son 
a  suitable  hfe  partner.  Fihal  piety  and  family  pride 
compelled  the  young  man  to  accept  the  girl  chosen  for 
him;  she, poor  thing,  was  never  for  a  moment  considered 
or  consulted. 

Nor  was  it  absolutely  necessary  that  the  son  should 
be  present  at  the  wedding.  His  parents  were  entirely 
competent  to  have  the  marriage  contracted  by  a  proxy; 
not  a  human  proxy,  but  a  doll,  perhaps,  or  even  a  cock! 
The  son,  who,  let  us  say,  had  been  living  at  Honolulu 
for  years  and  had  married  a  Hawaiian  woman  by  whom 
he  had  had  children,  would  find  upon  his  return  to  his 
native  land  that  officially  he  had  been  married  for 
months  or  perhaps  years  to  a  woman  he  had  never  seen 
and  never  heard  of.  Then  it  was  his  bounden  duty  to 
accept  the  wife  chosen  for  him  and  to  whom  he  had 
been  lawfully  married,  in  Chinese  eyes,  during  his 
absence. 

What  is  more,  and  worse,  if  the  son  brought  back 
with  him  to  China  a  wife  from  America,  or  Europe,  or 
Hawaii,  or  wherever  else  it  might  be,  even  though  he 
had  married  her  in  strict  conformity  with  the  laws  of 
her  homeland,  that  foreign  wife  had  to  yield  precedence 
to  the  Chinese  wife;    in  fact,  according  to   Chinese 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  219 

opinion  and  law,  she  ceased  to  be  a  wife  at  all  the 
moment  she  stepped  foot  upon  Chinese  soil.  If  the 
stranger  insisted  upon  continuing  to  live  with  the  man 
whom  she  considered  her  husband,  in  the  estimation  of 
his  people  she  became  his  concubine  merely.  She  was 
obHged  to  render  any  service,  no  matter  how  menial  or 
degrading,  that  her  husband's  parents  as  well  as  the 
lawful,  in  Chinese  opinion,  wife  might  demand  of  her. 
Conditions  may  change  with  the  new  situation  of 
affairs  in  China,  and  doubtless  they  have  done  so  in 
communities  where  foreign  influence  is  appreciable. 
If  the  RepubUc  persists  upon  its  course,  it  is  barely 
possible  that  everywhere  the  tendency  to  adopt  the 
ways  of  the  world  generally  may  go  so  far  as  to  affect 
marriage;  but  it  is  doubtful,  for  the  renovation  of  China 
may  not  be  so  completely  social  as  the  most  optimistic 
think.  China's  subservience  to  "Olo  Kastum"  is  not 
likely  to  be  materially  changed  in  this  matter  of  mar- 
riage until  the  majority  of  her  citizens  have  put  away 
their  slavish  and  to  us  incomprehensible  allegiance  to 
the  teachings  of  Confucius  and  the  other  old  masters. 
With  those  Chinese  who  have  seriously  embraced 
Christianity,  there  is  probably  no  danger  for  a  foreign 
woman  to  marry  a  Chinese;  but  it  had  better  not  be 
done  in  any  case.  If  a  few  Chinese  were  faithful  to 
their  Hawaiian  wives,  there  were  hundreds,  possibly 
thousands,  who  were  calmly  indifferent  as  to  what 
might  befall  their  mistresses  and  their  illegitimate 
children.  The  number  of  "part  Hawaiian  of  Asiatic 
fathers"  who  figure  in  the  census  tells  a  story  which  is 
not  altogether  creditable  to  the  Chinese. 


220  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

In  the  time  of  King  Kamehameha  II  (reigned  1819 
to  1824)  and  during  the  regency  of  the  Dowager  Queen 
Kaahumanu  (1824  to  1832),  the  influence  of  Chinese 
culture  must  have  been  considerable ;  for  a  conspicuous 
unit  of  the  royal  insignia  was  a  large  Chinese  umbrella, 
made  of  silk,  which  was  held  over  the  ruler's  head  when 
he  or  she  went  outdoors,  or  when  audience  was  held  in 
the  palace.  When  that  ruler  left  the  palace  to  go 
afloat,  the  royal  carriage  was  a  large  Chinese  bedstead; 
while  another  of  these  made  the  couch  upon  which  he 
rechned  in  his  state  barge. 

With  the  phenomenal  development  of  the  sugar 
industry,  came  a  demand  for  field  labourers  that  could 
not  be  supphed  in  the  home  market.  We  must  always 
remember  that  while  the  Hawaiians  were  entirely  able 
physically  to  perform  this  labour,  yet  because  of  their 
unreUabiUty  and  proneness  to  "knock  off  work" 
indefinitely  upon  receipt  of  a  week's  wages,  they  were 
altogether  unsatisfactory,  as,  if  the  truth  must  be  told, 
they  rather  are  to-day. 

Therefore,  in  1852,  a  request  was  sent  to  China  ask- 
ing that  a  number  of  such  labourers  be  sent  to  the 
islands.  The  response  was  prompt  and  affirmative, 
and  many  cooUes  arrived.  Yet  even  so,  the  census 
of  December  7,  1866  shows  that  there  were  only  1200 
Chinese,  1090  males  and  no  females,  in  the  entire 
archipelago.  Inasmuch  as  there  had  been  a  veritable 
flood  of  immigrants  from  China  during  the  years 
immediately  following  1852,  it  is  manifest  that,  for 
some  reason,  there  was  a  considerable  emigration  of 
Chinese. 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  221 

Some  coolies  continued  to  arrive,  however,  and  in 
1 88 1  the  market  for  this  class  of  labour  was  so  over- 
stocked that  an  order  was  issued  to  forbid  the  coming 
of  more  Celestials.  Then  came  a  sudden  spurt  in 
agricultural  development,  with  insistent  calls  for  cheap 
labourers;  so  that,  again,  the  gates  were  opened  and 
another  flood  of  coolies  poured  in.  There  then  fol- 
lowed various  restrictive  legislation  directed  against 
this  class  of  immigrants,  and  finally,  in  1886,  a  law  was 
passed  forbidding  any  Chinese  to  land  who  had  not  a 
passport  issued  in  proper  form  and  duly  verified  {vised) 
by  an  Hawaiian  consular  official.  As  an  ordinary 
coolie,  even  if  a  passport  could  be  procured  for  him 
from  the  Chinese  officials,  could  not  get  the  required 
vise,  this  measure  put  a  stop  to  coolie  immigration. 

Upon  transfer  of  the  archipelago  to  the  American 
flag,  the  restrictive  laws  of  the  United  States  became 
operative,  and  no  Chinese  labourer  is  now  permitted 
to  enter  the  territory.  Furthermore,  it  is  strictly  for- 
bidden for  a  Chinese,  who  has  been  a  resident  of  the 
islands  for  years,  even  prior  to  1898,  without  having 
been  naturahsed  as  an  Hawaiian  subject,  to  leave  the 
territory  and  enter  any  other  part  of  the  United  States. 

As  a  matter  of  plain  fact,  this  prohibiting  Chinese 
coolies  to  enter  Hawaii  works  disastrously  in  every  way 
and  accomphshes  no  benefit  whatever.  They  do  not 
come  into  competition  with  American  labourers;  rarely 
do  they  compete  with  any  white  workmen.  The  supply 
of  suitable  labour  for  various  agricultural  and  industrial 
pursuits  is  inadequate,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  which 
have  been  made  for  many  years  to  induce  immigration 


222  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

from  other  parts  of  the  world;  and  the  problem  of 
Chinese  coolie  immigration,  as  bearing  upon  Hawaii, 
must  be  reconsidered,  if  the  development  of  the  territory 
is  to  proceed  as  it  might  and  ought  to  do. 

At  one  time  there  were  more  than  thirty  thousand 
Chinese  in  the  country;  there  are  now  only  about 
twenty-one  thousand,  and  this  number  is  slowly  but 
surely  decreasing,  as  is  inevitable  when  careful  attention 
is  given  to  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Not  only 
is  it  difficult  for  the  Chinese  themselves  to  understand 
the  invidious  distinction  which  is  made  between  them 
and  Japanese  labourers  of  the  same  class,  but  many 
American  employers  fail  to  see  just  why  it  should  be 
made.  Undoubtedly  it  would  be  preferable  to  elimi- 
nate the  Asiatic  workman  entirely,  and  there  is  much 
satisfaction  to  be  had  from  the  official  statement  that 
the  percentage  of  non-Asiatic  employees  on  the  sugar 
plantations  has  increased  from  twelve,  in  1899,  the  first 
year  after  annexation,  to  thirty-one  for  the  year  191 2. 
But  absolute  elimination  would  seriously  cripple  this 
most  important  industry. 

As  soon  as  the  visitor  lands  at  Honolulu,  the  Chinese 
appear.  As  one  passes  along  the  street  they  are  met 
carrying  their  baskets,  two  slung  from  the  ends  of  a 
long  pole  borne  upon  one  shoulder.  As  market- 
gardeners  they  have  almost  a  monopoly;  and  as  fisher- 
men and  fish-hawkers  they  have  nearly  driven  the 
Hawaiians  from  the  field.  When  the  true  business 
streets  are  reached,  the  Chinese  merchants  are  seen 
in  their  glory.  Their  shops,  or  rather  the  contents, 
are  always  most  seductive,  although  not  novel  to  those 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  223 

who  have  come  from  either  east  or  west;  because  many 
precisely  the  same  kind  of  shops  are  to  be  seen  in  all 
the  cities  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  as  well  as  in  many  other 
American  towns.  The  stolidity  of  the  Chinese  mer- 
chant, sitting  placidly  at  his  shop's  door  or  just  within, 
is  in  marked  contrast  with  the  ordinary  volubility  of 
his  Japanese  competitor  who  seems  to  have  learnt  all 
there  is  to  be  taught  about  "touting"  for  trade. 

Just  what  the  American  or  European  housekeeper 
would  do  in  Hawaii  were  there  no  Chinese,  is  not  easy  to 
say  or  guess.  The  men,  when  they  have  given  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  the  culinary  art,  make  admirable 
chefs,  decidedly  better  than  the  average  Japanese. 
For  one  thing,  they  are,  as  a  rule,  cleaner  about  their 
own  persons  and  tidier  in  their  kitchens;  while  they 
are  less  addicted  to  club  and  social  dissipation.  This 
is  a  statement  which  will  possibly  be  contradicted; 
but  it  is  left  for  the  experienced  housekeeper  to  confirm 
or  disprove.  Another  recommendation  for  the  Chinese 
is  his  honesty;  relative,  at  least.  There  probably  does 
not  Hve  a  Chinese  cook  who  does  not  get  his  "squeeze" 
(unlawful  commission),  either  from  the  tradesmen  who 
supply  his  employer  or  from  that  employer;  yet  this 
is  usually  determined  by  agreement  between  the  cooks 
themselves,  and  it  stands  at  that  fixed  percentage. 
It  is  the  only  extortion  practised,  is  divided  amongst 
all  the  servants  of  the  household  who  give  allegiance 
to  the  cook,  and  has  come  to  be  a  recognised  custom  to 
which  no  one  seems  to  demur. 

Nearly  all  Japanese,  however,  add  a  little  to  the 
"squeeze"  week  by  week,  or  month  by  month,  until 


224  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

the  breaking  point  is  reached,  the  employer  rebels, 
and  there  comes  an  explosion. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  efficient  caterer 
and  emergency  meeter  than  a  good  Chinese  cook.  His 
mistress  announces  at  noon  that  three  or  four  people 
are  coming  for  tiffin  at  half -past  twelve;  or  the  master 
comes  from  his  club  at  half -past  six  and  says  some  men 
will  dine  with  him  at  the  usual  time,  an  hour  later. 
Ordinarily  the  cook  provides  for  not  more  than  four, 
the  whole  family.  Is  he  completely  upset  by  this 
sudden  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent?  Not  at  all 
—  at  least  he  does  not  show  it!  Without  a  word  of 
protest  he  goes  quietly  along  with  his  work,  and,  lo, 
there  is  plenty  for  everybody,  and  on  time  to  the 
minute.  A  foolish  busybody,  prying  into  the  secrets 
of  the  kitchen,  would  doubtless  find  that  the  "Number 
two  cook"  (the  chef's  understudy,  and  there  always  is 
one,  but  he  is  never  on  the  pay  roll)  has  been  sent 
running  hither  and  yon  to  gather  what  is  necessary; 
while  the  cooks  of  neighbouring  houses  have  been  called 
upon  to  help  out:  it  being  clearly  understood  in  the 
guild  that  this  particular  cook  must  be  ready  to  do  the 
same  thing  for  his  neighbour  in  a  similar  emergency. 

The  one  serious  annoyance  connected  with  Chinese 
servants  is  their  loyalty  to  the  Chinese  custom  of  tak- 
ing at  least  three  days'  holiday  at  New  Year's.  While 
the  lunar  calendar  governed  them,  this  event  fell 
towards  the  end  of  January  or  early  in  February. 
It  may  have  been  generally  transferred  to  the  first 
three  days  of  January,  because  the  RepubUc's  govern- 
ment has  announced  the  adoption  of  the  Gregorian 


CHINESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO  22$ 

calendar.  But  whenever  it  comes,  nothing  can  induce 
a  true  Chinese  to  work  during  that  period;  he  simply 
disappears  when  his  work  is  finished  in  the  evening 
of  the  last  day  of  the  old  year,  and  returns  when  it 
suits  his  pleasure.  If  an  impatient  housekeeper  has 
replaced  him  with  somebody  else,  it  is  simply  maskee 
("never  mind"),  only  the  chances  are  a  hundred  to 
one  that  the  housekeeper  will  regret  before  the  dis- 
missed servant  does.  If  only  the  natives  were  more 
to  be  depended  upon  as  house  servants,  a  lot  of  trouble 
would  be  saved  the  American  housekeeper  in  Hawaii. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
TEE  JAPANESE  IN  THE  ARCHIPELAGO 

IT  was  naturally  assumed  when  Japan  was  opened 
to  intercourse  with  the  world,  generally,  as  was 
done  by  our  Commodore  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry, 
in  1854,  that  the  law  prohibiting  the  Mikado's  subjects 
from  leaving  their  country  would  be  relaxed,  and  so  it 
was,  but  not  for  some  thirty  years.  As  a  matter  of 
history,  it  is  interesting  and  pertinent  to  note  that  the 
Mikado  of  Japan  in  1854,  Komei  is  his  name  in  official 
records,  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  law  which 
forbade  Japanese  going  abroad ;  nor  did  any  of  his  own 
statesmen  frame  it.  It  was  entirely  the  act  of  the  To- 
kugawa  Shogun,  the  curious  usurper  of  his  sovereign's 
powers  and  authority.  The  Mikado  may  have  made 
the  edict  effective  by  affixing  his  signature  thereto,  but 
this  was  merely  a  matter  of  form,  because  the  Shogun 
could  have  enforced  it  without  such  formahty. 

But  at  the  same  time  it  was  thought  that  the  intense 
patriotism  of  the  Japanese  would  tend  to  deter  emigra- 
tion, either  temporary  or  permanent.  It  is  true  that 
for  a  long  time  the  Japanese  government  displayed 
great  reluctance  in  granting  the  necessary  passports 
to  its  people  who  wished  to  go  abroad;  and  it  may  be 
that  for  a  time  after  first  having  the  gates  opened, 
patriotism   did   operate   somewhat   to   keep   them   at 


JAPANESE     IN    ARCHIPELAGO      227 

home.  Eventually,  however,  both  causes  ceased  to 
deter  the  Japanese  from  travelling  abroad,  and  they 
began  to  look  about  for  foreign  countries  to  invade. 
The  continent  of  Asia  at  that  time  held  no  attraction 
for  them,  while  the  Phihppines  and  other  East  Indies 
appear  to  have  been  unsatisfactory  to  them. 

Let  it  be  said  here  that  the  writer's  long  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Japanese  people  of  every  class,  and 
his  thorough  familiarity  with  every  part  of  their  em- 
pire warrants  his  saying  that  there  is  no  real  validity 
in  the  alleged  reasons  for  their  desire  to  emigrate, 
namely,  the  overcrowding  of  population  and  the  in- 
abihty  to  find  land  at  home  to  cultivate.  In  the 
matter  of  population,  Japan  (exclusive  of  Formosa 
and  Korea)  has  an  average  of  310  to  the  square  mile; 
the  Netherlands  have  480;  but  the  province  of  Honan, 
Central  China,  in  the  Yang-tsze  Valley,  has  520. 
There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  the  subjects  of  Queen 
Wilhelmina  to  leave  their  native  land  because  they 
cannot  support  themselves  at  home;  and  the  citizens 
of  Honan  figure  but  Httle  in  the  statistics  of  emigration 
from  China. 

The  main  reasons  for  the  Japanese  going  abroad  are, 
first,  to  make  more  money  than  they  can  earn  at  home; 
second,  their  craze  for  travelling.  But  to  these  has 
been  added  in  the  last  few  years  another  and  a  stronger 
reason  than  either  of  the  others,  a  natural  wish  to 
escape  the  frightful  burden  of  taxation  put  upon  them 
because  of  the  mad  desire  of  their  rulers  for  military 
expansion.  It  cannot  be  surprising  that  Japanese  are 
anxious  to  go  to  Hawaii  or  anywhere  else,  when  staying 


228  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

at  home  means  giving  up  one-third  of  their  gross  in- 
comes for  direct  or  indirect  taxes;  the  only  wonder  is 
how  those  who  do  remain  can  bear  this  burden.  If  the 
Japanese  government  would  give  its  attention  to  the 
reclaiming  of  great  and  virgin  tracts  of  land  which 
might  be  made  arable,  there  would  be  quite  enough  to 
support  double  the  present  population  of  that  country. 

In  1875  the  United  States  negotiated  with  the  king- 
dom of  Hawaii,  King  Kalakaua  being  the  monarch,  a 
treaty  of  reciprocity  by  the  terms  of  which  "muscovado, 
brown,  and  all  other  unrefined  sugar,  meaning  hereby 
the  grades  of  sugar  heretofore  commonly  imported 
from  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  now  known  in  the 
markets  of  San  Francisco  and  Portland  as  'Sandwich 
Island  Sugar,'  syrups  of  sugar-cane,  melado,  and 
molasses"  were  admitted  into  the  United  States  free  of 
duty.  This  action,  as  was  inevitable,  promptly  gave  a 
tremendous  impetus  to  the  sugar-planting  industry, 
which,  immediately  before  that  time,  had  been  very 
inactive. 

The  supply  of  suitable  labour  in  the  islands  was 
quite  insufficient  to  meet  the  demand;  and  conse- 
quently the  Hawaiian  authorities  sent  everywhere  in 
the  world  to  induce  competent  labourers  to  come  to 
the  kingdom.  The  Japanese  government  did  not 
evince  any  disposition  to  allow  its  subjects  to  respond 
to  these  overtures;  in  fact  it  was  distinctly  opposed  to 
doing  so  for  various  reasons.  There  were  no  Japanese 
in  the  islands  for  some  years  after  the  remarkable 
activity  in  the  sugar  industry  of  1875  and  during  the 
years  immediately  following.     It  was  only  in   1884, 


JAPANESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO        229 

when  the  great  Powers  of  the  world  began  to  consider 
seriously  the  propriety  (the  justice,  in  fact)  of  removing 
Japan's  extra-territorial  disquaUiications  and  to  enter- 
tain the  plea  that  Japanese  subjects  should  be  accorded 
equahty  of  treatment  with  the  peoples  of  America  and 
Europe,  that  the  Mikado's  government  consented  to 
allow  the  natives  to  emigrate  to  Hawaii. 

So  much  difficulty  for  Hawaii  attended  its  effort  in 
this  particular  case,  that  at  the  end  of  1884  there  were 
only  one  hundred  and  sixteen  Japanese  in  the  whole 
archipelago.  After  that  time,  however,  the  immigra- 
tion of  these  people  moved  rapidly,  and  in  a  few  years, 
or  by  the  end  of  1890,  there  were  over  twelve  thousand 
in  the  country;  by  1896,  twenty-four  thousand;  by 
1900,  more  than  sixty-one  thousand;  and  the  census 
of  1910  showed  very  nearly  eighty  thousand  Japanese 
in  the  territory.  The  islands  of  Oahu  and  Hawaii 
have  over  one-half  of  this  total,  each  having  upwards 
of  twenty  thousand.  This  indicates  that  the  sugar 
districts  are  the  most  attractive  to  these  people.  The 
rest  were  scattered  over  the  country,  as  follows:  Maui, 
9724;  Kauai  9018;  Molokai,  105  (seven  of  them  unfor- 
tunate lepers);  Midway,  13;  Lanai,  10;  Kahoolawe,  i. 

It  is  well  to  stop  for  a  moment  and  analyse  the  total 
of  79,674  which  represented  the  Japanese  population 
in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  three  years  ago,  because 
there  are  interesting  possibilities  to  be  contemplated. 
The  total  includes  54,783  males  and  24,891  females: 
of  the  former,  41,794  were  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age;  and  of  the  latter,  13,875.  There  were  12,989 
males   under   twenty-one   years   of   age,    and    11,016 


230  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

females.  There  were  19,889  born  in  Hawaii  or  within 
the  United  States  or  its  possessions. 

Although  the  arrivals  of  Japanese  at  Honolulu 
greatly  exceeded  the  departures  for  some  years  after 
the  archipelago  was  annexed  by  the  United  States, 
conditions  subsequently  changed.  The  departures 
have  considerably  exceeded  the  arrivals  for  the  last 
few  years.  This  state  of  affairs  was,  of  course,  due  to 
the  agreement  entered  into  within  the  last  decade  by 
diplomatic  representatives  of  the  governments  of  the 
United  States  and  Japan,  but  without  formal  treaty, 
whereby  the  Mikado's  officials  undertook  to  restrict 
the  emigration  of  his  subjects  to  any  part  of  American 
territory. 

That  same  agreement,  however,  had  the  effect  of 
stimulating  the  arrival  in  Hawaii  of  Japanese  women, 
since  the  wives  of  Japanese  residents,  as  well  as  reputa- 
ble women  who  are  to  become  such  wives,  have  been 
permitted  to  land.  There  has,  consequently,  been  a 
conspicuous  increase  in  the  number  of  Japanese  births. 

For  some  reason,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speculate  upon 
it  here,  the  Japanese  men  are  not  nearly  so  much  given 
to  marrying  Hawaiian  women  as  are  the  Chinese.  At 
least  the  Japanese  do  not  register  these  marriages,  and 
here  the  word  is  used  very  euphemistically,  as  con- 
sistently as  the  Chinese  did.  In  fact  there  are  very  few 
such  aUiances  between  Japanese  men  and  Hawaiian 
women;  and  indeed  there  is  but  httle  sexual  intercourse 
between  the  two  peoples  that  tends  to  cause  an  appre- 
ciable number  of  illegitimate  births  with  Japanese 
paternity. 


JAPANESE     IN    ARCHIPELAGO       231 

For  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  191 2,  527  more 
Japanese  men  left  the  territory  than  arrived;  pre- 
sumably all  of  these  have  the  privilege  of  returning; 
1273  more  women  arrived  than  departed;  735  more 
minor  children  went  away  than  came  in.  It  is  not  to 
be  too  readily  taken  for  granted  that  all  of  the  911 
children  who  left  Hawaii  for  Japan  during  the  twelve 
months,  July  i,  191 1  and  June  30,  1912,  were  taken 
"home"  to  be  educated  and  become  loyal  Japanese 
subjects;  to  bear  their  full  burden  of  responsibility  in 
military  duty,  as  well  as  in  all  other  walks  of  life. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  of  these  legal  minors, 
twenty-one  is  the  age  of  majority  in  Japan,  were  of 
mihtary  age  —  that  is  full  twenty;  but  it  is  useless  to 
deny  that  many  Japanese  at  home  are  trying  to  evade 
conscription;  or  that  men  who  know  the  satisfaction 
of  Ufe  without  this  burden  in  other  countries  are  in- 
disposed to  make  soldiers  of  themselves  or  see  their 
sons  give  up  the  best  years  of  their  lives,  when  there  is 
no  actual  necessity  for  it.  The  Japanese  press,  which 
gives  expression  to  official  opinion,  complains  of  evasion, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  many  seek  to  avail  themselves 
of  this  provision:  "residence  in  a  foreign  country 
secures  exemption  up  to  the  age  of  thirty-two,  pro- 
vided that  official  permission  to  go  abroad  has  been 
obtained.  A  man,  returning  after  the  age  of  thirty- 
two,  is  drafted  into  the  territorial  army  (that  is,  the 
militia);  but  if  he  returns  before  that  age,  he  must 
volunteer  to  receive  training;  otherwise  he  is  taken 
without  lot  for  service  with  the  colours  (that  is,  the 
regular  army)." 


232  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Probably  the  same  motives  inspire  Japanese  parents 
as  influence  our  own,  American  fathers  and  mothers, 
who  have  elected  to  reside  abroad  permanently,  or 
realise  that  they  must  spend  the  greater  part  of  their 
lives  there.  These  Hke  to  bring  their  children,  born 
in  other  countries,  to  the  homeland  in  order  that  the 
young  people  may  see  for  themselves  what  America 
is,  and  that  relatives  may  know  them,  even  when  it  is 
the  intention  to  take  the  children  back  to  ahen  lands. 
It  is  more  than  Hkely  to  be  the  same  with  Japanese 
parents,  not  one  of  whom,  if  he  told  the  truth,  would 
say  that  the  education  his  children  will  receive  in  the 
pubHc  schools  of  Hawaii  is  not  infinitely  better  than 
the  best  he  can  get  for  them  in  Japan. 

In  spite  of  the  departures,  there  has  been  within  the 
territory  an  apparent  increase  of  the  Japanese  race, 
which  is  due  entirely  to  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths. 
This  condition,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  relates  ex- 
clusively to  labourers,  or  what  are  called  steerage 
passengers  travelling  in  steamers  arriving  from  or 
departing  for  a  Japanese  port.  Cabin  passengers,  many 
of  whom  are  privileged  to  enter  American  territory,  do 
not  figure  in  this  consideration,  and  statistics  of  their 
movements  are  not  available. 

This  matter  of  a  decided  increase  in  the  number  of 
Japanese  births  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  one  of 
much  importance  politically,  economically,  and  socially. 
Most  of  the  native  born  Japanese  are  technically 
American  citizens,  differing  radically  in  this  important 
respect  from  children  born  of  Chinese  parents  (excep- 
tions have  been  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter). 


JAPANESE     IN    ARCHIPELAGO       233 

The  latter  are  not  considered  native  born  American 
citizens  unless  their  parents,  too,  were  native  born  and 
have  made  their  homes  upon  American  soil,  at  least 
technically.  Many  of  the  native  born  Japanese  boys 
in  Hawaii  (and  the  girls,  too,  if  the  forward  march  of 
the  woman's  suffrage  movement  continues)  may  in 
due  time  become  voters,  if,  upon  arriving  at  legal 
maturity,  they  elect  to  register  as  American  citizens 
and  by  that  act  renounce  all  allegiance  to  the  Mikado. 

Just  how  serious  a  matter  this  may  become,  cannot 
now  be  stated  definitely;  because  it  is  impossible  even 
to  guess  how  many  of  those  native  born  Japanese  will 
remain  in  the  territory,  or  how  many  of  those  who  do 
remain  will  have  become  sufficiently  Americanised  in 
spirit  when  they  are  twenty-one  years  old  to  wish  to 
receive  the  franchise  and  take  upon  themselves  the  full 
responsibihties  of  citizenship.  At  the  present  time 
nearly  all  these  Japanese  children  are  under  ten  years 
of  age,  because  the  marked  increase  in  their  number 
has  taken  place  during  the  last  few  years,  or  since  the 
arrivals  of  Japanese  women  have  been  so  entirely 
disproportionate  to  the  arrivals  of  men,  and  have 
almost  counterbalanced  the  total  departures  of  men, 
women,  and  children. 

In  the  Hawaiian  census  of  1910,  it  appears  that 
there  were  only  fifty-three  Japanese  males  of  voting 
age  who  had  been  born  in  the  archipelago,  and  that  of 
these  only  thirteen  had  availed  themselves  of  their 
privilege  to  register  as  American  citizens  so  as  to  vote. 
Inquiry  amongst  the  older  Japanese  men  fails  to  ehcit 
any  information  that  this  registering  was  looked  upon 


234  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

as  horrible  disloyalty  to  the  Mikado,  and  apparently 
not  one  of  those  thirteen  young  men  has  been  ostracised 
for  becoming  a  bona  fide  American  citizen. 

During  the  two  and  a  half  years  preceding  June  30, 
191 2,  7986  Japanese  left  the  territory  for  Japan,  and 
only  809  arrived;  therefore  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  school  children,  from  1352  to  9298,  during  the  twelve 
years  of  American  rule,  indicates  rather  remarkable 
prohficness  in  these  people;  it  is  quite  disproportionate 
to  the  ratio  of  increase  of  any  other  nationaUty,  Yet 
it  must  be  remembered  that  children  who  leave  Hawaii 
for  Japan  and  are  brought  back  before  attaining  legal 
majority  do  not  forfeit  the  right  to  register  as  Americans 
when  they  have  reached  the  lawful  voting  age. 

It  would,  possibly,  be  an  unfair  imputation  upon 
the  "  Yamato  spirit,"  as  the  Japanese  call  their  national- 
ism and  pride  in  Japan's  institutions,  because  Yamato 
was  one  of  the  earhest  names  given  to  their  land,  to  say 
that  the  number  of  Japanese  young  men  who  will  elect 
to  become  American  citizens  when  they  reach  the  age 
of  twenty-one  is  likely  to  show  a  percentage  increase  as 
time  passes;  still,  there  are  not  lacking  signs  that  this 
will  be  the  case.  Should  a  great  percentage,  say  ninety, 
decide  to  do  this,  there  will  be,  in  another  ten  or  twelve 
years,  a  goodly  number  of  Japanese-Americans  posses- 
sing the  ballot.  So  many  that  if  the  decrease  of  those 
in  whose  veins  flows  the  pure  Hawaiian  blood  con- 
tinues as  it  has  been  doing  for  fifty  years  and  prom- 
ises to  continue  to  do,  there  will  be  more  citizens  of 
Japanese  blood  than  of  the  true  native  stock. 

In  the  opinion  of  some  this  possible  state  of  affairs 


JAPANESE     IN    ARCHIPELAGO       235 

constitutes  a  serious  menace;  but  this  fear  is  not  shared 
by  the  present  writer:  because  the  probabiHty  is  great 
that  in  those  ten  or  twelve  years  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  true  American  citizens,  together  with  that 
of  other  Caucasians  who  thoroughly  share  the  American 
spirit,  and  who  are  entitled  to  be  naturahsed,  would 
operate  to  counteract  any  improper  designs  which  the 
Japanese  citizens  might  harbour.  Careful  considera- 
tion should  be  given  to  the  fact  that  the  territorial 
government  is  confining  its  assistance  to  immigrants, 
exclusively  to  persons  who  are  or  may  become  citizens, 
and,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  to  introduce  only  agricul- 
turalists in  families. 

Taking  up  now  more  specifically  the  consideration  of 
the  Japanese  in  the  archipelago,  it  has  to  be  admitted 
at  once  that  the  friends  of  these  people  could  wish  for 
a  different  story  than  the  records  of  the  Territorial 
Prison  tell.  During  the  official  year  which  ended  on 
June  30,  191 2,  the  totals  of  all  classes  received  and 
discharged  left  the  number  of  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  still  in  custody.  Of  these,  fifty-nine  were  Japanese 
men  and  one  was  a  Japanese  woman.  That  total  of 
sixty  was  the  maximum  for  nationalities,  it  is  regretta- 
ble to  say.  The  next  in  number  were  Hawaiians, 
fifty-six,  and  then  Chinese,  thirty-four.  The  Koreans, 
usually  looked  upon  as  mild  in  manner  and  disposed  to 
be  peaceful,  were  either  notoriously  bad  or  they  were 
peculiarly  unfortunate;  for  out  of  a  total  of  less  than 
five  thousand  in  the  whole  territory,  twenty  men  had 
to  be  taken  into  limbo  for  various  misdemeanours, 
although  no  serious  crimes  seem  to  have  been  charged 


236  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

against  them:  percentages  considered,  the  Japanese 
do  not  appear  in  such  an  unfavourable  light  as  their 
Korean  fellow-subjects. 

The  Japanese  in  Hawaii  may  be  roughly  classified 
as  officials  —  government,  that  is  consular  officers  and 
their  associates,  or  representing  trading  or  immigration 
companies  —  merchants,  domestic  servants,  market 
gardeners,  hucksters,  etc.  The  greatest  number  are  em- 
ployed on  the  sugar  plantations,  but  their  employers 
have  some  reason  to  compare  them  unfavour- 
ably with  Chinese  of  the  same  class.  The  last  men- 
tioned are  steady  and  industrious,  due  allowance  being 
made  only  for  their  New  Year's  dissipation  and  a  fond- 
ness for  smoking  opium,  which  now  has  to  be  done  very 
surreptitiously;  while  the  Japanese  are  excitable  and 
restless,  although  as  workers,  when  they  do  attend  to 
their  duties,  they  are  reckoned  fairly  good.  Upon  the 
other  plantations,  sisal,  tobacco,  pineapples,  etc.,  the 
Japanese  count  for  comparatively  Httle. 

As  merchants,  the  Japanese  are  ready  to  turn  their 
hands  to  anything  that  promises  profit.  They  have 
learnt  the  ways  of  the  world  rather  better  than  their 
Chinese  competitors,  and  are  more  disposed  to  trans- 
form their  "bazaars"  into  an  imitation  of  the  shops  of 
America  and  Europe.  Some  of  these  merchants  do  a 
considerable  business  in  Japanese  rice,  which  is  im- 
ported in  large  quantities;  not  only  for  the  use  of  the 
Japanese  residents  themselves,  but  because  it  is  much 
liked  by  the  Caucasians,  being  preferred,  with  good 
reason,  to  that  which  is  native  grown  or  imported  from 
China  or  Siam. 


JAPANESE     IN     ARCHIPELAGO        237 

The  Japanese  merchant  is  distinctly  more  variable  and 
volatile  than  the  Chinese.  Whenever  a  steamer  arrives 
from  Japan,  knots,  when  there  are  not  crowds,  gather 
at  every  corner  to  discuss  the  latest  news  from  ''home." 
During  the  public  school  episode  at  San  Francisco  a 
few  years  ago,  and  all  through  the  recent  one  of  legis- 
lation in  CaHfornia,  directed  against  the  Japanese,  their 
feehng  was  intense  and  it  found  vent  in  many  noisy 
meetings  in  halls,  shops,  and  at  street  corners. 

The  natural  fondness  of  the  Japanese  for  flowers 
makes  them  sympathise  with  the  same  trait  in  the 
Hawaiians,  and  also  qualifies  them  exceptionally  well 
to  take  charge  of  Americans'  and  Europeans'  gardens, 
as  well  as  to  render  service  as  floral  decorators,  in  which 
art  they  are  unexcelled. 

Upon  no  kindred  subject  is  there  greater  difference 
of  opinion  than  as  to  the  satisfactoriness  of  the  Japanese 
as  house-servants;  it  is  a  question  that  each  person 
answers  for  himself,  and  the  answer  is  determined  by 
individual  experience.  Some  housekeepers  in  Hawaii 
are  loud  in  their  praises;  others  are  severe  in  their 
condemnation:  but  this  is  the  same  in  every  country 
where  Japanese  are  thus  employed,  be  it  Japan  or  the 
United  States.  In  general,  throughout  the  territory, 
preference  is  given  the  Chinese,  certainly  as  cooks. 
But  since  annexation  and  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the 
laws  against  Chinese  immigration,  the  Japanese  are 
fining  the  places  of  their  excluded  fellow  MongoHans. 
This  must  increase  more  and  more  rapidly  as  the 
supply  of  Chinese  diminishes  and  the  number  of 
American  and  European  households  increases. 


238  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

In  the  case  of  the  manservant,  picturesqueness  goes 
to  the  Chinese,  provided  he  is  encouraged  to  wear  his 
long  white  or  blue  tunic  when  waiting  upon  the  table; 
because  the  Japanese  manservant  discards  his  native 
costume  for  European  garb  which  is  not  attractive. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  full  sleeves  of 
the  true  Japanese  outer  garment  are  too  disastrous  to 
crockery  and  everything  breakable  to  be  tolerated. 
But  with  maidservants,  the  Japanese  far  excel  the 
Chinese  in  attractiveness;  the  bright  kimono  of  the 
musume  is  decidedly  more  pleasing  than  the  wide 
trousers  and  loose,  short  jacket  of  the  Chinese  woman. 
As  to  using  judgment  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties,  it  has  to  be  admitted  that  preference  goes  to 
Chinese,  man  or  woman;  although  both  peoples  are 
liable  to  display  a  literalness  that  is  often  amusing  and 
sometimes  very  disconcerting.  In  training  a  new 
Japanese  servant,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the 
right  thing  be  taught  and  in  precisely  the  right  way; 
because  if  the  instructor  makes  a  mistake  and  then 
corrects  it,  the  chances  are  greatly  in  favour  of  the 
mistake  persisting  and  the  correction  being  forgotten. 
Any  number  of  laughable  instances  of  this  Hteralness 
can  be  cited  from  the  experiences  of  those  who  have  had 
to  do  with  Japanese  servants  in  the  Mikado's  Empire, 
in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  or  in  the  United  States  of 
America. 


CHAPTER   XIX 
MOUNTAINS  AND   VOLCANOES 

EVERY  one  of  the  eight  principal  units  of  the 
Hawaiian  archipelago  is  mountainous,  even  if 
some  of  the  highest  altitudes  on  certain  individual 
islands  do  not  reach  up  to  an  elevation  which  properly 
justifies  the  use  of  the  word  "mountain."  The  largest 
island  of  all,  Hawaii,  with  an  area  of  more  than  four 
thousand  square  miles,  easily  takes  the  lead  with  its 
great  peaks,  for  Mauna  Kea  towers  up  to  13,825  feet; 
and,  not  content  with  having  the  loftiest  mountain  in 
the  whole  group,  Hawaii  Island  insists  upon  claiming 
second  place,  too,  for  the  top  of  Mauna  Loa  is  13,673 
feet  above  sea-level.  The  two  mountains  make  a 
most  imposing  pair  and  have  aptly  been  termed 
"twins."  It  seems  rather  unusual  that  the  Hawaiian 
people  had  no  pretty  legend  connected  with  these 
gigantic  twins  similar  to  that  which  the  ancient  in- 
habitants of  Mexico  told  of  their  twin  peaks,  Popocata- 
petl,  the  "Smoking  Mountain,"  and  Iztaccihuatl,  the 
"White  Woman." 

But  Niihau  Island,  that  has  but  seventy-three  square 
miles  of  area,  pokes  itself  up  to  a  height  of  1300  feet; 
and  even  httle  Kahoolawe,  only  forty-four  square 
miles  in  size,  has  a  peak  that  is  1472  feet  in  altitude. 
After  Hawaii  comes  Maui,  with  a  maximum  altitude 


240  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

of  10,032  feet;  then  Kaui,  5250  feet;  and  Molokai, 
4958  feet,  and  Oahu,  4030  feet,  and  Lanai,  3400  feet. 
Bearing  in  mind  the  comparatively  small  size  of  its 
largest  island  and  the  fact  of  the  adjacent  sea  lending 
so  much  to  scenic  effects,  it  will  readily  be  admitted 
that  the  United  States'  first  over-seas  possession  offers 
a  rich  reward  for  those  who  are  fond  of  mountain  climb- 
ing, with  the  added  spice  of  witnessing  some  remarkable 
volcanic  phenomena;  of  danger  there  will  probably 
be  none,  provided  always  that  the  stranger  pays  heed 
to  what  his  guide  tells  him. 

When  to  all  this  is  added  that  facilities  for  reaching 
every  one  of  the  important  mountains,  the  little  ones, 
of  course,  and  the  famous  volcanoes,  active  or  extinct, 
are  now  ample;  and  that  the  most  satisfactory  arrange- 
ments have  been  made  for  the  creature  comforts  and 
personal  safety  of  visitors,  it  seems  superfluous  to  say 
that  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  likely  to  be  more  and 
more  popular  with  tourists  each  year.  We  would  not 
for  a  moment  think  of  contradicting  the  published 
statement  of  the  Honolulu  Chamber  of  Commerce 
that  Hawaii  has  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  its  hotels 
and  boarding-houses.  They  are  of  the  best,  and  their 
charges  are  reasonable,  when  compared  with  those  of 
similar  estabhshments  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
It  is  quite  safe  to  add  that  the  present  capacity  of  hotels 
and  boarding-houses  will  soon  have  to  be  doubled  to 
take  care  of  the  people  who  are  already  planning  to 
visit  the  territory;  and  it  will  be  but  a  comparatively 
short  time  until  those  accommodations  will  have  to  be 
doubled  again.     Pretty  nearly  every  one  of  all  those 


MOUNTAINS  AND  VOLCANOES   241 

visitors  will  make  it  a  point  to  see  at  least  the  great 
mountains  of  Hawaii  Island. 

Let  us  then  think  at  once  of  Mauna  Kea  and  Mauna 
Loa,  the  top  of  the  former  being  by  far  the  highest 
point  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Like  all  the  other  units  of 
the  group  the  island  of  Hawaii  is  of  volcanic  origin. 
It  differs  in  its  surface  aspect  quite  markedly  from  the 
other  islands,  and  the  fact  of  there  being  a  relatively 
small  amount  of  erosion  has  led  some  geologists  to 
affirm  that  it  is  the  youngest  born  of  the  archipelago; 
although  other  scientists  think  that  due  consideration 
is  not  given  to  mass  and  elevation.  Hawaii  is  cer- 
tainly the  only  one  of  the  group  in  which  the  volcanic 
forces  which  made  the  islands  have  not  yet  become 
extinguished.  This  large  island  rises  from  the  ocean 
into  three  great  peaks,  Mauna  Kea,  Mauna  Loa,  and 
Mauna  Hualalai.  Mauna  is  the  Hawaiian  word  for 
"mountain,"  and  a  similarity  to  "mons"  is  to  be  noted. 

Geologists  say  that  five  different  volcanoes  rose  up 
from  the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  poured  forth  their 
boiling  excretus  which  flowed  together  and  formed  the 
island.  Those  five  volcanoes  are  now  identified  as 
Kohala,  Mauna  Kea,  Mauna  Loa,  Mauna  Hualalai,  and 
Kilauea.  They  are  not  conspicuously  steep,  and 
precipices  are  rare,  except  as  will  be  noted  in  describing 
the  craters  of  some  of  them;  and  the  upper  parts  are 
either  quite  barren  or  the  vegetation  is  very  sparse 
and  coarse.  Around  their  lower  levels  and  in  the 
valleys  which  penetrate  them  in  a  number  of  places  or 
skirt  the  adjacent  seashores,  the  eroded  lava  mixed 
with  decomposed  vegetable  matter  that  has  accumu- 


242  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

lated  for  centuries,  soil,  varying  in  character,  is  found 
of  considerable  depth  in  certain  locahties  and  this  is 
often  remarkably  rich. 

The  eastern  sides  of  the  mountains  are  exposed  to 
the  prevailing  trade-winds  —  as  is  the  case  with  all  the 
hills,  mountains,  and  coasts  throughout  the  archipelago. 
These  sections  are  consequently  amply  supplied  with 
rainfall,  which  is  sometimes  excessive.  As  a  result, 
the  vegetation  of  these  parts  is  generally  dense  and 
extends  up  to  an  altitude  of  five  thousand  feet,  varying 
in  character  from  the  essentially  tropical  plants  of  the 
seacoast  to  those  which  correspond,  in  a  measure,  at 
least,  with  those  of  temperate  zones;  this  variation 
contributes  greatly  to  the  pleasure  of  the  visitor. 

Every  gradation  of  chmate  may  be  found  on  Hawaii 
Island  at  all  seasons  of  the  year;  yet  those  who  think 
of  "tropical  heat"  as  a  necessary  condition  because  of 
geographical  position  will  be  surprisingly  and  agreeably 
disappointed  when  they  go  there.  The  mean  annual 
temperature  along  the  coast  is  between  70°  and  80° 
Fahrenheit;  while  from  this  to  an  almost  Arctic  cold 
at  the  summits,  the  change  is  steady.  Water  often 
freezes  near  the  tops  of  the  mountains;  snow  is  nearly 
always  to  be  found  in  some  sheltered  nooks  of  Mauna 
Kea's  summit;  while  during  the  so-called  winter 
months,  January  and  February,  the  sides  of  both  this 
mountain  and  Mauna  Loa  (less  frequently  Mauna 
Hualalai)  will  be  covered  with  snow  for  thousands  of 
feet  down  their  sides.  This  gives  strangers  a  most 
novel  sight  as  they  gaze  up  at  the  emblem  of  rigorous 
winter  from  the  tropical  vegetation  of  the  coast. 


MOUNTAINS  AND  VOLCANOES   243 

Visitors  to  the  territory  will  leave  their  ocean  steamer 
at  Honolulu,  and  at  their  pleasure  take  a  smaller  vessel 
for  the  island  of  Hawaii,  disembarking  at  the  port  of 
Hilo.  This  island,  although  the  largest  of  the  group 
yet  having  a  total  population  scarcely  exceeding  that  of 
the  capital  city,  Honolulu  (52,183  in  19 10),  is  never- 
theless remarkably  well  supplied  with  roads,  thanks 
to  the  energy  of  the  Hawaii  Promotion  Committee  and 
the  cheerful  co-operation  of  the  territorial  government; 
while  individual  effort  has  contributed. 

Tourists  who  are  even  more  than  usually  exacting  in 
their  demands  for  comfortable  housing  and  palatable 
food  need  have  no  hesitation  in  visiting  Hawaii  Island; 
because  ample  accommodations  will  be  found  wherever 
they  are  likely  to  go.  Motorists  frequently  take  their 
own  cars  and  spend  a  week  or  longer  time  in  touring 
this  island,  for  it  is  practicable  to  make  the  entire 
circuit  of  the  island,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  with  a  motor-car,  if  carefully  driven  in  certain 
places.  For  the  greater  part  of  this  distance  the  roads 
are  now  really  quite  good,  and  they  are  being  im- 
proved all  the  time. 

Perhaps  the  earliest  account  we  have  in  English 
(or  any  European  language)  of  the  ascent  of  Mauna 
Kea  is  that  given  by  Captain  Byron.*  It  was  made 
in  1825  and  there  were  six  foreigners  in  the  party,  a 
resident  missionary  who  acted  as  interpreter,  three  of 
the  Blondes  officers,  and  two  sailors.  They  were 
attended  by  four  natives  who  acted  as  guides  and 
porters.  Far  up  on  the  side  of  the  mountain,  they 
*  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Blond.     See  Bibliography. 


244  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

found  another  European  living  in  a  hut  which  he  had 
built  in  foreign  fashion.  He  was  called  "The  Ar- 
mourer" and  had  been  in  the  king's  service;  but  had 
been  banished  from  Honolulu  for  some  misdemeanour: 
he  was  of  assistance  to  the  explorers,  but  did  not 
actually  accompany  them  to  the  summit. 

The  ascent  took  three  days,  and  only  two  of  the  party, 
a  botanist  officer  and  the  missionary,  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  top,  on  which  they  were  prevented  from 
remaining  long  because  of  the  relatively  intense  cold, 
28°  Fahrenheit,  in  the  month  of  July.  A  theodolite 
had  been  carried  along,  but  it  was  injured  and  therefore 
the  exact  height  could  not  be  determined;  but  the 
successful  climbers  thought  it  was  fully  fifteen  thousand 
feet,  while  others  of  the  ship's  company  computed  it  at 
seventeen  thousand  feet.  These  early  visitors  noted 
the  disappearance  of  timber  long  before  they  reached 
the  summit,  which  they  found  to  be  covered  with 
scoria,  ashes,  and  sand.  At  a  high  altitude  they 
found  some  extraordinarily  large  raspberries,  and 
strawberries  very  like  the  Alpine  variety,  but  with 
little  flavour. 

Very  different  is  the  ascent  to-day,  which  may  be 
made  in  about  half  the  time,  because  of  roads  and 
trails  and  other  facilities;  yet  the  conditions  are  not 
essentially  different  from  what  they  were  nearly  a 
century  ago.  Mauna  Kea,  however,  is  now  merely  a 
long  and  rather  strenuous  mountain  climb,  while  our 
interest  just  at  present  is  with  volcanic  phenomena; 
therefore  we  turn  to  Mauna  Loa,  on  the  southern  slope 
of  which  is  Kilauea,  the  world's  greatest  living  volcano. 


The  Crater  of  Kilauea  in  all  its  Glory 


A  Lava  Crack  on  the  Trail  to  the  Volcano 


MOUNTAINS  AND  VOLCANOES   245 

It  has  not,  however,  been  violently  active  for  more 
than  a  century,  when,  so  native  legend  tells  us,  it  sent 
forth  ashes  and  poisonous  sulphurous  fumes  that 
completely  annihilated  the  army  which  was  marching 
against  the  great  Kamehameha. 

It  does  not  precisely  satisfy  our  ideal  of  a  volcano, 
because  it  is  not  at  the  top  of  a  mountain;  its  crater  is 
not  shaped  like  an  inverted  cone  for  it  is  a  vast  pot, 
with  nearly  perpendicular  walls  —  from  one  hundred 
to  seven  hundred  feet  high.  This  huge  pot  is  nearly 
eight  miles  in  circumference,  and  the  floor  of  cracked 
lava  covers  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  acres. 
All  visitors  push  postcards,  held  in  a  cleft  stick,  down 
into  the  cracks  in  the  lava  bed  to  scorch  them  in  the 
living  fire,  and  these  are  forwarded  to  all  parts  of  the 
world  as  souvenirs.  A  detailed  description  of  Kilauea 
cannot  be  given  here  because  of  the  limitations  of 
space,  but  the  reader  who  desires  it  will  find  such  in 
Mr.  Castle's  book,  which  has  already  been  referred  to.* 

The  summit  of  Mauna  Loa  is  an  active  volcano,  even 
if  it  has  not  been  violently  so  for  a  long  time.  The 
crater,  called  Makuaweoweo,  is  smaller  than  Kilauea, 
yet  nevertheless  it  is,  next  to  that,  the  largest  active 
volcano  in  the  world.  It  is  nearly  four  miles  long  and 
over  a  mile  wide.  From  rim  to  lava-flow  it  is  about 
four  hundred  feet  deep.  Its  action  is  irregular  and 
apparently  not  preceded  by  any  premonitory  signals; 
usually  it  remains  quiet  for  periods  of  several  years' 
duration,  then  it  bursts  forth.  An  account  is  given 
of  one  visitor  who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  witness  one 

*  See  Bibliography. 


246  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

of  these  irregular  explosions  at  close  range.  He  had 
reached  the  edge  of  the  crater  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  think  of  returning  that 
day.  Consequently,  he  pitched  his  tent  and  settled 
himself  for  the  night.  A  sudden  and  dazzUng  Kght 
awoke  him  suddenly,  and  he  ran  out  to  see  a  column 
of  lava  spouting  up  a  thousand  feet  into  the  air.  That 
fountain  of  blazing  lava,  which  continued  to  play  for 
several  hours,  was  seen  from  all  parts  of  the  island  and 
far  out  at  sea.  Few  people  have  been  so  effectively 
rewarded  as  was  this  visitor;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  a 
long,  stiff  climb  to  the  top  of  Mauna  Loa,  it  is  probable 
that  only  the  real  enthusiast  will  care  to  visit  the  place 
even  when  Makuaweoweo  is  in  eruption. 

A  good  road  extends  from  the  port  of  Hilo  to  Volcano 
House,  at  the  very  edge  of  Kilauea's  crater.  The 
distance,  thirty-one  miles,  may  be  covered  in  two 
ways;  either  by  train  to  Glen  wood,  twenty- two  miles, 
and  then  by  motor-stage,  or  by  motor-car  the  entire 
distance,  at  a  very  shghtly  greater  expense.  There 
are  other  hotels  near  the  crater  which  will  be  found 
entirely  satisfactory.  This  road  actually  enters  the 
main  crater,  on  which  it  is  possible  to  ride  to  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  living  fire-pot. 

Those  who  wish  to  continue  on  to  Mauna  Kea  will 
find  the  road  crosses  the  great  Kau  Desert,  fascinating 
in  its  desolation  of  black  and  gray  lava  formations. 
After  this  comes  a  fine  grazing  country,  where  already 
several  cattle  ranches  have  been  estabUshed,  and  a 
rich  sugar  district.  From  the  coast,  at  Honuapo, 
the  road  turns  northward  through  the  Kona  Districts, 


MOUNTAINS  AND  VOLCANOES   247 

South  and  North  Kona,  in  many  respects  the  most 
charming  parts  of  the  whole  island,  and  into  Kohala 
District  at  Waimea,  from  which  place  the  ascent  of  the 
mountain  may  be  made,  if  it  is  not  done  from  Hilo. 
On  the  middle  part  of  this  drive  the  stranger  may 
visit  the  monument  raised  at  the  place  where  Captain 
Cook  met  his  tragic  death;  it  stands  on  the  shore  of 
the  beautiful  bay  of  Kealakekua.  If  disposed  to 
accompKsh  the  ascent  of  Mauna  Hualalai,  a  detour 
will  be  made  soon  after  passing  the  last  mentioned  bay. 
Crossing  the  intervening  strait  to  the  next  northern 
island,  Maui,  there  comes  the  opportunity  to  ascend 
the  third  highest  mountain  in  the  territory,  Haleakala, 
sometimes  called  "The  House  of  the  Sun."  This  is 
claimed  to  be  the  largest  crater  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
naturally  the  object  of  chief  interest  to  tourist  or 
scientist.  Its  height  has  already  been  given,  but  its 
dimensions  are:  area,  ten  square  miles  —  or  six  thou- 
sand four  hundred  acres;  circumference  twenty  miles; 
extreme  length  seven  and  a  half  miles;  extreme  width, 
three  and  one-third  miles;  elevation  of  the  principal 
cones  in  the  crater  8032  feet  and  1572  feet;  elevation  of 
cave  in  floor  of  crater,  7380  feet  above  sea-level.  The 
almost  vertical  walls  descend  to  the  cinder-strewn 
floor,  half  a  mile  below.  The  summit  of  the  mountain 
is  well  above  the  usual  cloud-belt,  and  from  this  mag- 
nificent vantage  point  the  entire  island  spreads  out 
below  the  observer  hke  a  great  coloured  map;  while 
all  of  the  islands  of  the  group,  except  Kaui  and  Niihau, 
may  be  seen  easily  in  clear  weather.  The  great  snow- 
capped peaks  of  Mauna  Kea  and  Mauna  Loa  loom  up 


248  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

in  the  south  as  though  scarcely  a  dozen  miles  away, 
yet  the  actual  distance  is  upwards  of  one  hundred.  A 
trip  to  the  edge  of  the  crater  is  usually  made  in  the 
evening,  or  by  moonlight,  in  order  to  see  the  sun  rise 
from  the  ocean.  This  sight  is  one  that  is  probably 
unsurpassed  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

Although  the  island  of  Oahu  has  no  mountains 
which  compare  with  those  that  have  just  been  men- 
tioned, there  is  plenty  of  hill  work  to  attract  the 
climber.  The  hills  rise  to  Httle  more  than  four  thou- 
sand feet,  yet  they  are  steep  and  rugged,  while  some  of 
the  pinnacles  have  been  scaled  by  but  few  strangers. 
Some  of  the  peaks  are  covered  with  vegetation.  This 
retards  progress,  but  it  adds  to  the  timid  cHmber's  sense 
of  security  at  dizzy  heights.  Other  mountains,  particu- 
larly in  the  Waianea  range,  western  part  of  the  island, 
are  practically  without  vegetation  near  their  sum- 
mits; and  on  the  needle-like  crags  the  head  must  be 
clear  and  the  foot  sure  in  order  to  make  a  successful 
ascent  and  a  safe  return. 

Mount  Waialeale,  the  central  and  loftiest  peak  of 
Kauai  Island,  rises  to  5250  feet.  It  is  drenched  by 
constant  rainfall,  and  therefore  great  gorges,  with 
tremendous  chffs  and  spurs,  radiate  from  it  down  to 
the  sea.  The  most  important  of  these,  Waimea  Can- 
yon, has  been  called  a  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado 
in  miniature.  It  is  three  thousand  feet  long  and  but  a 
mile  or  two  in  width,  covering  twenty-five  square  miles 
in  area.  It  offers  a  bounteous  reward  of  health  and 
inspiration  to  those  who  explore  it  thoroughly.  There 
are  wonderful  castle-like  crags,  peaks,  precipices,  and 


Haleakala,  the  Largest  Extinct  Crater  in  the  World 
Interior  View 


MOUNTAINS  AND  VOLCANOES   249 

branching  gorges  running  back  into  the  heart  of  the 
island,  where  doubtless  a  great  crater  existed  long  ago. 
Brilliant  colour  effects  are  common  to  the  Pacific 
Islands,  but  on  Kauai  they  are  found  as  nowhere  else. 
The  fire  and  glow  of  the  volcano  seem  to  have  been 
renewed  in  the  decomposing  rock,  the  grass  and  trees, 
and  the  flowers.  This  must  suffice  for  the  subject  of 
this  chapter;  for  while  there  are  some  hills,  canyons, 
and  traces  of  volcanic  action  in  other  places  which 
will  reward  the  visitor's  effort  to  conquer  them,  they 
will  either  assert  themselves  or  they  will  be  brought  to 
the  tourist's  notice  at  the  right  moment. 


CHAPTER   XX 
LITERATURE:    NATIVE  AND  FOREIGN 

BEFORE  the  arrival  of  the  Christian  missionaries, 
there  could  not  have  been  anything  even  re- 
motely approximating  Hterature  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  because  the  natives  of  that  country  had  no 
such  thing  as  written  symbols  with  which  to  record 
their  thoughts,  or  even  to  keep  records  of  transactions. 
Archaeologists  have  discovered  some  hieroglyphics  cut 
in  rocks  at  certain  places  which  the  old  people  averred 
were  intended  to  be  records  of  events,  or  marks  to 
determine  some  chief's  claim  to  land.  This  identi- 
fication, however,  was  not  accepted  seriously  by  any 
historian,  and  we  must  consider  the  date  of  1822, 
only  two  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  American 
missionaries,  as  the  beginning  of  literature  in  the 
archipelago. 

It  was  Hterally  a  beginning  with  letters,  for  in  that 
year  a  spelling-book  in  the  Hawaiian  language  was 
prepared  for  the  use  of  natives  who  wished  to  learn  to 
read,  and  it  had  an  enormous  popularity.  There  was 
not  much  discussion  as  to  a  plan  of  rendering  Hawaiian 
words  with  roman  letters,  because  the  American 
teachers  determined  this  rule  for  themselves,  and  their 
decision  was  generally  accepted  by  all  other  foreigners 
who  were  interested.     To  the  natives  there  did  not 


LITERATURE  25I 

occur  any  criticism,  for  their  amazement  at  seeing  their 
own  words  in  permanent  symbols  was  too  great  for 
them  even  to  ask  how  it  was  accomphshed  and  whether 
the  method  was  precisely  correct  or  not. 

There  has  always  been  a  disposition  on  the  part  of 
some  continental  Europeans  to  transliterate  Hawaiian 
words  according  to  their  own  system  of  vocalisation; 
but  this  variation  from  a  logical  standard  is  the  same 
as  the  inconsistencies  which  appear  in  similar  transht- 
erations  of  Chinese  or  Japanese  words:  it  tends  merely 
to  needless  confusion. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  native  schoolboys  and 
girls  were  very  greatly  reduced  by  the  fact,  which  has 
already  been  mentioned,  that  all  Hawaiian  words  may 
be  represented  with  but  twelve  roman  letters,  the 
five  vowels  and  seven  consonants,  and  that  the  sounds 
of  these  never  varied  in  quality  and  rarely  in  length. 

The  first  serious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  natives  to 
do  anything  with  literature  was  the  putting  of  some 
of  the  old  legends  into  permanent  form.  This  resulted 
in  giving  to  foreign  students  a  great  deal  that  was 
extremely  interesting  to  ethnologists  and  folk-lorists. 
In  1834  there  were  two  newspapers  printed  in  the 
vernacular,  and  in  1839  the  Holy  Bible  was  translated 
into  Hawaiian  and  printed  in  that  language  with 
roman  type.  If  the  native  Hawaiian  hterature  has 
not  always  been  of  a  lofty  type  spiritually,  it  assuredly 
began  well. 

An  interesting  example  of  the  work  of  Hawaiian 
students  in  what  may  be  called  their  own  literature  is 
the  volume  entitled  Ka  Mooolelo  Hawaii.     This  is  a 


252  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

history  of  their  country  which  was  prepared  by  the 
pupils  of  the  Lahainaluna  High  School,  and  printed  in 
Paris  in  1 86 1.  In  the  columns  of  the  monthly  magazine 
entitled  Paradise  of  the  Pacific,  a  great  many  contribu- 
tions were  in  the  vernacular,  and  these  —  together 
with  the  EngHsh  text  as  well  as  occasional  articles  in 
some  other  European  tongue  —  furnish  a  rich  mine  in 
which  the  student  may  dig  with  satisfying  results. 

It  will  doubtless  interest  some  readers  to  see  a  sample 
of  Hawaiian  that  gives  something  with  which,  in  its 
English  form,  we  are  all  familiar.  Therefore  the  Rev. 
George  Kingdon's  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  is 
inserted  here,  with  a  Hteral  translation:  the  italics  are 
the  English  words.  E  0  ko  the  of  mako  us  Makua 
Father  i-loko  inside  o  of  ka  the  Lani  Heaven  e  hoanoia 
hallowed  he  Kou  Thy  Inoa  Name  e  hiki  mai  come  Kou 
Thy  Aupuni  Kingdom  e  malamaia  done  he  Kou  Thy 
Makemake  Will  ma  hy  ka-nei  this  honua  earth  e  like 
me  like  as  ia  that  i  malamaia  done  ma  hy  ka  the  Lani 
Heaven  e  haawi  mai  give  i  a  makou  us  i  ai  food  ne  for 
keia  this  la  day  e  kala  mai  forgive  i  ko  the  of  makou  us 
lawehalaana  trespass  me  as  makou  we  e  kala  nei  forgive 
i  ka  the  poe  people  i  lawehala  mai  (who)  trespass  against 
i  a  makou  us  mai  not  alakai  lead  i  a  makou  us  i  ka  in 
the  hoowalewaleia  mai  ■  temptation  ata  hut  e  hoopakele 
deliver  i  a  makou  us  mai  from  ka  ino  the  evil  no  ka  mea 
for  Nou  Thine  ke  the  Aupuni  Kingdom  a  me  and  ka 
Mana  the  Power  a  me  and  ka  the  hoonaniia  Glory  a  mau 
loa  'ku  forever  Amene  Amen.  This  translation  was 
made  a  good  many  years  ago  and  it  may  not  satisfy 
precise  students  to-day;    but  it  serves  to  show  some- 


LITERATURE  253 

thing  of  what  was  done  in  the  earliest  efforts  of  forming 
an  Hawaiian  literature. 

But  the  beginnings  of  that  literature  were  not  all 
quite  so  pure,  sweet,  and  uplifting  as  church  ritual 
and  devotional  exercises.  There  were  popular  songs 
put  into  print,  and  some  of  them  were  decidedly  broad 
and  suggestive,  if  not  actually  descriptive,  while  others 
were  as  plaintive  and  tender  as  could  be  wished.  Yet 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  simple  Hawaiian  people 
of  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  had  a  plain  way  of 
speaking  about  certain  things  which  have  long  been 
forbidden  in  English  conversation  or  song.  We  must 
not  forget,  too,  that  a  very  few  hundred  years  ago 
there  were  ballads  and  ditties  sung  in  the  drawing- 
rooms  and  music-salons  of  the  best  English  social 
leaders,  and  at  court,  as  well,  which  would  be  con- 
sidered altogether  too  shocking  for  even  the  lowest 
cabaret  of  our  own  times. 

Then,  too,  some  of  the  Hawaiian  stories  were  in- 
spired by  low  classes  of  foreigners  who  were  mercilessly 
opposed  to  all  efforts  to  raise  the  natives  from  the 
low  plane  of  morality  to  which  they  naturally  drifted 
when  brought  into  contact  with  European  civilisation 
because  of  their  own  naturally  loose  morality  and 
debasing  habits.  Besides  these  open  attacks,  often 
most  vicious,  upon  the  missionaries  and  their  Hawaiian 
converts,  there  were  other  insidious  ones,  some  of 
them  not  altogether  without  a  foundation  of  truth. 

As  an  example  of  these  may  be  mentioned  an  inci- 
dent which  has  been  most  successfully  worked  into  a 
clever  story  by  Mr.  Jack  London.     He  calls  it  The 


254  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

House  of  Pride,  and  in  his  tale  he  holds  up  to  justly 
merited  scorn  a  sanctimonious,  Pharisaical  son  of  a 
missionary  who  hates,  without  just  reason  and  is 
therefore  led  to  persecute  most  unmercifully,  a  jolly 
young  half-breed,  who  is  in  fact  (although  the  Pharisee 
does  not  know  it  until  a  fair-minded  acquaintance  tells 
him)  his  own  half-brother.  The  goody-goody  young 
man's  father,  one  of  the  early  New  England  mission- 
aries, had  stepped  aside  from  the  narrow  path  of  virtue 
which  he  was  pointing  out  to  his  parishioners,  and  had 
fallen  in  love  with  a  winsome  native.  In  the  stories 
that  some  of  the  native  writers  tell,  there  are  a  good 
many  such  fallings;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
for  the  native  Hawaiians  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile 
the  doctrine  preached  by  all  the  missionaries  with 
the  practice  of  some  in  amassing  great  fortunes  by 
taking  advantage  of  the  needs  or  the  simplicity  of  the 
Hawaiians  themselves. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  literature  produced 
by  foreigners,  we  plunge  into  a  very  deep  and  wide 
sea.  It  is  not  easy  always  to  distinguish  between  the 
semi-native  and  the  purely  foreign.  Are  we  to  call 
Jarves'  story  Kiana:  a  tradition  of  Hawaii  native  or 
foreign  literature?  It  merely  puts  into  the  English 
language  the  story  of  that  coming  of  a  white  priest 
who  brought  with  him  a  sacred  image  and  a  crucifix; 
the  legend  or  myth  has  already  been  referred  to  in 
these  pages.  Based  upon  the  tale  which  natives  told 
him,  Jarves  builds  up  a  romance  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  a  legendary  King  of  Hawaii  Island,  Kaloukapa, 
or  Kiana,  who  was  eighteen  generations  before  Kame- 


LITERATURE  255 

hameha  I.  To  this  he  adds  something  of  the  other 
legend  about  a  Spanish  ship-captain  and  his  sister  (so 
she  is  called)  from  whom  some  of  the  proudest  Ha- 
waiians  claim  descent.  Or  are  we  to  say  that  the 
stories  of  Pele,  the  goddess  of  volcanoes;  of  Kelea,  the 
surf  rider;  of  Umi,  the  peasant  prince;  and  the  Battle 
of  the  Sand-hills  are  foreign  literature  simply  because 
they  are  accessible  to  those  who  do  not  understand 
Hawaiian  only  in  English?  This  seems  hardly  fair. 
It  is  probable  that  some  native  chronicler  put  them 
down  in  the  vernacular,  but  lacking  the  skill  of  a 
trained  writer,  his  narrative  is  not  so  effective  as  is 
that  of  the  foreign  edition. 

There  is  one  theme  which  has  always  been  excep- 
tionally popular  with  both  Hawaiian  and  foreign 
writers  who  have  given  their  attention  to  social  prob- 
lems. It  is  the  success  of  some  Chinese  merchants  in 
making  large  fortunes,  and  their  privilege  of  marrying 
native  women  and  rearing  families.  So  many  authors 
have  used  this  topic  in  short  tales,  or  sustained  romance 
attaining  the  proportions  of  a  whole  book,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  discuss  them  here.  The  subject  has 
been  briefly  alluded  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 

The  Sandwich  Islands,  the  Kingdom  of  Hawaii,  the 
Republic,  the  Territory  have  all  been  written  about 
so  fully  that  it  is  proper  to  offer  an  apology  for  adding 
another  little  volume  to  the  library:  the  excuse  is 
that  the  subject  is  treated  differently.  To  the  very 
first  Europeans  who  reached  the  archipelago  —  whether 
intentionally  or  because  of  the  misfortune  of  ship- 
wreck, does  not  matter  —  we  owe  practically  nothing, 


256  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

and  little  more  to  the  later  Spanish  visitors.  But 
from  the  time  of  Cook's  re-discovery  until  the  present 
moment,  there  have  been  contributions  to  the  hterature 
about  Hawaii,  if  not  literally  of  the  people  living  there, 
in  almost  every  European  language.  Even  in  the 
rather  exceptional  Russian  tongue,  there  are  volumes 
containing  accounts  of  visits  to  the  Sandwich  Islands 
from  the  time  when  Captain-Lieutenant  Joary  Lisian- 
ski  (whose  name  and  visit  are  perpetuated  in  the  name 
given  to  one  of  the  islets  stretching  towards  the  north- 
west from  the  main  group  and  politically  a  part  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii)  arrived  in  the  discovery  ship 
Neva,  in  1804.  In  the  following  two  decades  several 
other  Russian  vessels  arrived,  and  the  behaviour  of 
some  members  of  these  expeditions  gave  rise  to  a  con- 
tribution to  the  hterature  in  the  form  of  narratives  by 
the  Russians,  and  later  to  comments  (not  at  all  com- 
pHmentary)  by  Hawaiians  themselves  as  soon  as  they 
had  learnt  how  to  put  their  opinions  into  writings. 

The  most  important  of  those  Russian  contributions 
is  that  of  Otto  von  Kotzebue;  and  all  the  valuable 
works  are  accessible  to  readers  of  English,  in  transla- 
tions which  have  been  made,  usually  by  competent 
persons.  This  facility  of  reading  in  English  transla- 
tions apphes  with  equal  force  to  all  important  works, 
written  in  any  other  language  of  continental  Europe, 
which  deal  methodically  or  cursorily  with  the  Hawaiians. 
All  publications  by  the  Hawaiian  Government,  when 
the  original  was  not  prepared  in  English,  are  equally 
accessible;  and  these  constitute  an  invaluable  depart- 
ment of  the  literature. 


LITERATURE  257 

The  literature  dealing  with  the  general  subject  is 
particularly  rich  in  descriptive  writings,  as  well  as  in 
ethnological  studies,  for  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  the  Hawaiians  have  attracted  as  much  attention 
from  students  of  man,  his  possible  origin,  his  develop- 
ment, and  his  customs  and  associations,  as  have  any 
other  peoples  of  the  Pacific  Islands.  The  speculations 
of  scientists  upon  the  geological  formations  of  this 
group  of  volcanic  islands;  their  clothing  by  nature  in 
vestments  which  are,  botanically,  almost  unique,  have 
called  forth  the  most  widely  varying  views,  and  the 
exposition  of  such  opinions  is  always  interesting,  even 
if  it  does  sometimes  leave  the  layman  almost  hope- 
lessly perplexed  as  to  what  he  is  to  think. 

Another  topic  that  is  sadly  popular  with  the  native 
writers  is  the  one  which  deals  with  separation  between 
lovers,  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children, 
dear  friends,  by  the  awful  scourge  of  leprosy.  It  is 
not  in  the  least  surprising  that  the  Hawaiians  frankly 
curse  the  Chinese  for  introducing  this  dreadful  disease 
into  their  islands.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the 
authorities  took  steps  to  isolate  those  who  were  stricken 
with  this  incurable  and  dangerous  affection,  and  there 
was  a  natural  revolt  on  the  part  of  those  who  felt  they 
were  being  punished  with  a  living  death  because  it  had 
seemed  good  to  Providence  to  smite  them,  who  were 
not  responsible  for  the  plague. 

There  are  many  stories  of  this  character  told  and 
usually  they  end  with  the  saddest  tone  which  can  be 
given  to  the  aloha-oe,  now  meaning  "farewell  forever," 
as  the  boat  carrying  the  stricken  ones  to  the  leper 


258  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

settlement  leaves  the  pier  at  Honolulu  bound  for 
Molokai.  It  is  realised  that  the  parting  is  for  life 
and  death.  It  so  often  happens  that  for  some  in- 
scrutable reason,  Providence  selects  for  victims  of  this 
loathsome  leprosy  those  who  are  of  high  social  position 
and  good  blood,  pure  or  mixed,  it  may  be,  and  when 
such  are  required  to  cut  themselves  away  from  all  that 
makes  life  pleasant,  the  scene  at  the  Honolulu  water- 
front is  truly  pathetic.  Huddled  together  at  the  httle 
steamer's  rail,  waving  their  hands  to  friends  on  shore 
who  respond  as  well  as  grief  and  streaming  tears  will 
permit,  the  lepers  join  in  a  wailing  song  that  is  the 
very  chmax  of  hopeless  despair.  No  wonder  that  this 
scene  has  been  fixed  immutably  in  the  native  and 
foreign  Hterature  of  Hawaii. 

In  thinking  of  this  one  most  terrible  curse  that  has 
come  to  the  Hawaiians  since  they  first  knew  strangers, 
there  are  other  diseases  which  hold  the  attention  of 
careful  observers.  The  natives  seem  to  have  been 
singularly  free  from  pestilence  and  the  dreadful  ail- 
ments of  Europe  and  Asia ;  therefore  it  is  not  astonish- 
ing that  their  introduction  by  the  uninvited  visitors 
has  been  the  theme  of  many  complaints  in  both  prose 
and  poetry. 

It  is  a  strange  yet  conspicuous  fact  that,  when  we 
pass  from  the  descriptive  literature  of  Hawaii  into  the 
romantic  and  social,  especially  that  which  has  come 
from  native  pens,  the  most  marked  trait  is  a  strange 
sadness.  It  seems  so  inconsistent;  because  every 
outside  observer  has  written  of  the  Hawaiians  as  being 
naturally    a    happy,    pleasure-loving    folk.     So    they 


LITERATURE  259 

appear  to  be  now,  although  a  realisation  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  disappearing  from  the  face  of  the  earth 
may  at  times  seem  to  impart  an  unnatural  sadness  to 
their  mien.  Yet  even  so,  in  their  oldest  folk-lore,  when 
it  does  not  deal  with  the  mysterious  and  superstitious, 
there  is  often  a  noticeable  strain  of  sadness;  and  nearly 
all  their  songs,  which  are  not  thoroughly  lewd  or  sug- 
gestive, are  characterised  by  a  peculiar  sadness  in  their 
words  that  is  emphasised  by  the  wailing  music  to 
which  those  words  are  set,  often  in  a  minor  key,  that 
pierces  the  heart  and  wrings  tears  of  sympathy  from 
the  stranger  who  is  nevertheless  a  friend. 

When  we  carefully  study  the  history  of  Hawaii,  it 
has  to  be  admitted  that  there  have  been  more  events 
tending  to  depress  the  people  than  to  arouse  enthusi- 
asm at  the  prospects  which  the  future  holds  in  store; 
and  this  depression  has  asserted  itself  in  the  literature 
and  romance.  The  prospects  for  the  future  of  our 
Territory  of  Hawaii  are  extremely  bright;  but  in  the 
realisation  of  that  future,  it  is  sadly  probable  the  true, 
pure-blooded  Hawaiians  will  have  little  part. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
TEE  POLYNESIAN  LANGUAGE 

CONDENSED  from  the  paragraph  in  the  Ency- 
clopcBdia  Britannica,*  the  division  of  language 
to  which  Hawaiian  speech  belongs  is  thus  described: 
the  islands,  large  and  small,  off  the  southeastern  coast 
of  Asia,  and  those  scattered  over  the  Pacific,  all  the 
way  from  Madagascar,  near  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
say  longitude  51°  East,  to  Easter  Island,  in  109°  30' 
West,  a  range  of  199°  30'  of  longitude,  are  filled  with 
their  own  peculiar  families  of  language,  standing  in 
more  or  less  distinct  relationship  to  the  languages 
of  the  Mon-Khymer  group  (which  includes  the  An- 
namites,  Peguans,  and  Cambodians),  the  Kolimans 
on  the  mainland  of  southern  Asia,  and  the  Nicobar 
islanders. 

The  most  important  of  those  island  languages  is  the 
great  Malayo-Polynesian;  divided  into  two  principal 
branches,  Malayan  and  Polynesian.  The  former 
defines  itself  sufiiciently  to  need  no  further  reference 
here.  The  latter  includes  most  of  the  tongues  of  the 
remaining  scattered  groups  of  islands,  as  well  as  that  of 
New  Zealand.  All  these  languages  are  extremely 
simple  in  phonetic  form,  and  of  a  low  grade  of  structure. 

*  Vol.  XXI,  Article  Philology,  p.  428,  par.  7,  Malayo-Polynesian 
Family. 


THE     POLYNESIAN     LANGUAGE      261 

The  radical  elements  are  much  oftener  of  two  syllables 
than  one,  and  reduplication  plays  an  important  part  in 
their  extension  and  variation. 

Herbert  Spencer  *  supplied  the  basis  for  this  account, 
and  specifically  of  the  Hawaiian  language.  Spencer 
stated  that  the  monosyllables  were  about  five  per 
cent  of  the  vocabulary,  dissyllables  some  forty-two 
per  cent,  and  trisyllables  approximately  about  twenty 
per  cent.  RedupHcation  of  two  syllables  is  very  fre- 
quent. Yet  this  same  competent  authority  states  that 
the  language  is  agglutinative,  copious,  and  capable  of 
expressing  ideas  with  great  force  and  precision;  and 
in  this  opinion  practically  all  recent  observers,  whose 
opportunities  have  been  supplemented  by  the  advan- 
tage derived  from  careful  research  by  others  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  agree  heartily.  We  must  admit 
that  a  language  is  entirely  competent  for  purposes 
of  expressing  thought,  which  is  written  thus:  0  ka  moo- 
lelo  kahiko  loa  no  Hawaii  nei,  ua  powehiwehi  ia.  Eia 
ka  mea  e  akaka  ole  ai,  0  ka  ike  ola  0  na  kanaka  0  ia  wa  i 
ke  kakua  palapala.  Ua  paa  kekahi  mau  mea  ma  ka 
naau  0  ka  poe  kahiko,  aka,  ua  paa  kapekepeke  no,  aole  i 
paa  pono.  He  oiaio  kekahi  a  he  wahahee  kekahi.  0 
ka  moolelo  no  na  makahiki  hou  mai  i  hala  iho  nei,  oia  ka 
mea  akaka  iki.  An  English  translation  of  this,  which 
entirely  satisfies  both  Hawaiians  who  are  perfectly 
famihar  with  our  language,  as  well  as  competent 
foreigners,  reads  thus:  "The  very  ancient  history  of 
our  Hawaii  is  obscure.  The  reason  for  this  lack  of 
clearness  comes  from  the  fact  that  the  kanakas  (people) 

*  Cyclopedia  of  Social  Facts,  No.  III. 


262  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

of  that  time  did  not  know  how  to  write.  Many  im- 
portant events  are  buried  in  the  bowels  (memory)  of 
old  people,  but  in  a  vague  and  incomplete  way.  Some 
of  these  are  true;  some  are  false.  As  for  historic  facts 
which  relate  to  the  times  that  are  separated  from  us 
by  a  few  years,  they  are  clearer."  The  reduplication 
which  has  been  mentioned  will  be  noticed. 

It  is  probable  that  Spencer  attached  a  little  too  much 
importance  to  the  "partly  hieroglyphic,  partly  pic- 
torial symbols:  straight  lines,  semicircular,  concentric 
rings,  with  dots,  rude  imitations  of  men,  etc.,  cut  in 
rocks  by  travellers,  to  indicate  how  far  they  had 
wandered,  the  direction  they  had  taken,  and  the 
number  of  the  party."  Even  Hawaiian  archaeologists 
and  ethnologists  now  attach  no  importance  to  the  few 
crude  rock  inscriptions  which  have  been  found. 

It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  Hawaiians  were 
not  very  far  behind  the  other  branches  of  their  common 
linguistic  family.  Cook  found  himself  agreeably  sur- 
prised that  the  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  "spoke 
the  language  of  Otaheite,  and  of  the  other  islands  we 
had  lately  visited."  The  Englishmen  of  Cook's  com- 
pany who  had  picked  up  a  little  of  the  southern  language 
were  soon  able  to  catch  the  meaning  of  some  things 
which  the  Hawaiian  islanders  said  to  them. 

Jarves,  who  landed  on  the  shore  of  Oahu  Island  in 
1837  for  the  first  time,  and  remained  there  for  four 
years  in  the  pursuit  of  health,  recreation,  and  the  study 
of  men  and  manners,  says  that  among  the  chiefs  there 
prevailed  a  considerable  degree  of  courtesy,  with  a 
refinement   of   language   and   deportment   which   be- 


THE     POLYNESIAN     LANGUAGE       263 

tokened  conscious  rank.  To  carry  out  the  distinction 
between  nobles  and  common  people  to  its  furthest 
limits,  the  nobles  and  chiefs  had  framed  a  conventional 
dialect,  or  court  language,  which  was  supposed  to  be 
understood  by  themselves  only,  and  quite  uninteUigible 
to  their  serfs.  If  any  of  the  words  or  locutions  of  this 
exclusive  language  came  to  be  known  by  the  lower 
classes,  the  nobles  immediately  discarded  them  and 
substituted  other  esoteric  phrases. 

Fornander,*  who,  by  the  way,  married  a  Hawaiian 
lady  of  rank  and  was  himself  Circuit  Judge  of  the 
Island  of  Maui,  claimed  to  have  shown  that  the  Polyne- 
sian family  occupied  the  Asiatic  archipelago,  from 
Sumatra  to  Timor,  Gilolo,  and  the  Philippines,  previous 
to  the  overrunning  of  the  islands  by  the  present  Malay 
inhabitants.  He  proceeds  from  this  to  declare  that 
traces,  though  faint  and  few,  lead  up  through  the 
Deccan  (the  unofficial  name  given  to  the  southern  part 
of  the  peninsula  of  Hindustan)  into  the  northwest  part 
of  India  and  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf;  that  when 
other  traces  here  fail,  yet  the  language  points  farther 
north,  to  the  Aryan  stock  in  the  earher  days,  long  be- 
fore the  Vedic  irruption  of  India;  and  that  for  long 
ages  the  Polynesian  family  was  the  recipient  of  a 
Cushite  civilisation,  and  to  such  an  extent  as  almost 
entirely  to  obscure  its  own  consciousness  of  parentage 
and  kindred  to  the  Aryan  stock. 

The  determination  of  just  where  the  Land  of  Cush 
was  has  long  been  a  disputed  matter,  and  there  is  not 
yet  any  final  agreement,  nor  is  it  likely  there  ever  will 

*  Fornander,  Abraham,  An  Account  of  The  Polynesian  Race,  1878. 


264  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

be.  By  some  students  it  is  considered  as  an  indefinite, 
or  rather  undefinable,  portion  of  Arabia;  by  others  it  is 
restricted,  with  equal  positiveness  as  to  the  main  fact, 
to  that  part  of  Africa  rather  loosely  known  as  Ethiopia; 
still  others  are  wider  in  their  views  and  affirm  that  the 
name  "Cush"  was  applied  to  people  living  in  both 
southern  Arabia  and  eastern  central  Africa.  Upon 
Biblical  tradition  may  be  rested,  with  much  confidence, 
the  declaration  that  an  African  "Cush"  existed,  and 
that  it  covered  upper  Egypt,  extending  southward 
from  the  first  Nile  cataract,  which  is  at  Assuan,  24°  5' 
North  latitude.  Yet  upon  the  same  authority  is  built 
the  theory  that  the  term  "Cush"  referred  to  parts  of 
Arabia.  "The  Cushite  invasion  in  Second  Chronicles, 
xiv,  is  intelligible,  if  the  historical  foundation  for  the 
story  be  a  raid  by  Arabians,  but  in  xvi,  8,  the  inclusion 
of  Libyans  shows  that  the  enemy  was  subsequently 
supposed  to  be  African.  In  several  passages  the 
interpretation  is  bound  up  with  that  of  Mizraim,  and 
depends  in  general  upon  the  question  whether  Ethiopia 
at  a  given  time  enjoyed  the  prominence  given  to  it."  * 
The  theory  that  the  Hawaiians,  or  any  other  branch 
of  the  Malayo-Polynesian  family,  were  derived  from 
Aryan  stock  has  long  been  entirely  discredited  by 
ethnologists,  as  has  the  former  duty,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  imposed  upon  all  investigators  of  the  descent 
or  ascent  of  all  mankind,  of  confining  themselves  to  one 
common  Adam  and  Eve.  We  must  accept  as  a  most 
probable,  if  not  absolutely  demonstrated,  fact  that 
man  evolved  from  one  or  more  anthropoid  types  in 

*  Cook,  Stanley  Arthur,  in  Enc.  BriL,  Xlth  ed.,  Article  Gush. 


THE     POLYNESIAN     LANGUAGE      265 

various  parts  of  the  world  at  epochs  which  were  widely 
separated  in  point  of  time.  It  follows,  then,  that  the 
radically  different  types,  five  appears  to  be  the  wisest 
number,  do  not  owe  their  variations  in  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristics  solely  to  varying  conditions  of  the 
localities  into  which  sections  of  the  one  common  original 
type  were  dispersed,  or  into  which  groups  migrated 
voluntarily  to  escape  the  overcrowding  of  the  birth- 
place of  man.  Except  upon  this  theory  it  is  impossible 
to  understand  the  immense  differences  in  pigmentation, 
capillary  growth,  and  skin  structure,  as  well  as  minor 
ones  which  will  occur  to  every  student.  The  theory  in 
no  way  antagonises  the  declaration:  "Let  us  make 
man  in  our  image  after  our  likeness  " ;  nor  does  it  weaken 
the  bond  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

In  the  particular  case  of  the  Hawaiians,  anthropo- 
metric measurements  of  skull,  form,  and  all  proportions 
make  it  impossible  to  assign  to  them  a  common  ancestry 
with  the  peoples  who  now  represent  the  great  Aryan 
stock.  Similarly,  comparative  philology  forbids  asso- 
ciating the  speech  of  the  Malayo-Polynesians  and  the 
Indo-Europeans.  These  statements  do  not  necessarily 
reflect  adversely  upon  the  Hawaiians'  intellectuality  or 
any  other  trait.  They  do  not  permit  us  to  recognise 
parallelism  in  the  derivation  of  the  Hawaiian  language 
and  that  of  peoples  living  in  India;  but  that  fact  does 
not  depreciate  the  former. 

The  present  writer's  preference  in  the  matter  of 
probable  origin  for  the  Malayo-Polynesian  family  of 
mankind  has  already  been  indicated;  but  it  is  interest- 
ing to  follow  some  speculations  of  others  who  hold  a 


266  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

different  opinion;  for  they  are  amusing,  if  they  are 
not  convincing.  Too  much  importance  is  often  given 
to  accidental  vocable  resemblances  in  languages  which 
are  widely  separated  geographically,  and  that  cannot 
possibly  have  emanated  from  a  single  group  of  human 
beings  at  some  remote  time  when  they  were  located  in 
a  small  section  of  this  earth's  surface. 

Because  we  may  truthfully  say  that,  if  all  written 
record  and  oral  tradition  of  the  descent  of  the  present 
ruHng  races  in  both  North  and  South  America  were 
destroyed  in  communities  which  have  not  partly  at 
least  reverted  to  native  rule  —  as  Mexico  and  the 
Central  American  Republics  —  we  could  still  trace 
the  ancestry  of  those  ahens  by  place  names,  referring, 
them  back  to  England,  Spain,  Portugal,  France, 
Scandinavia,  Italy,  or  elsewhere  in  Europe.  It  is, 
however,  extremely  hazardous  to  apply  the  same  line 
of  reasoning  to  peoples  who  did  not,  in  the  past,  have 
the  same  facilities  for  communicating  with  other  lands 
and  peoples  which  were  at  the  service  of  those  Ameri- 
can-Europeans, and  which  have  continued  to  preserve 
a  certain  connection  between  parents  and  offspring. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  instances  of  that  influence 
which  historically  hardly  satisfy  the  present  conten- 
tion; yet  even  these  are  found  to  be  no  exception, 
when  carefully  studied.  Because  there  happen  to  be 
a  few  survivals  in  Mexico  of  Aztec  words  which  closely 
resemble  in  sound  words  in  the  Japanese  tongue,  and 
the  similar  words  have  the  same  meaning  and  use  in 
the  two  countries,  no  comparative  philologist  would 
argue  for  ethnic  relation  between  the  two  peoples. 


THE     POLYNESIAN     LANGUAGE      267 

The  name  of  the  principal  unit  of  the  Hawaiian  group 
of  islands,  that  from  which  the  general  name  for  the 
archipelago  is  taken,  has  been  cited  by  Mr.  Fornander 
as  an  evidence  of  ethnic  and  Hnguistic  connection 
between  Aryan  parent  and  Pacific  Ocean  offspring. 
It  is  assumed,  and  with  manifest  reason,  to  be  a  com- 
pound of  Hawa  and  ii  or  iki;  the  latter  being  an  epithet 
and  probably  having,  originally,  the  meaning  of  "rag- 
ing, furious  with  heat."  Hawa,  however,  is  alleged  to 
be  a  word  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  principal 
groups  of  the  Pacific  Islands  "as  an  ancient  place  of 
residence."  It  is  claimed  to  correspond  with  Jawa  or 
Java,  the  second  of  the  Sunda  islands,  the  one  which 
we  now  call  Sumatra.  There  does  not  appear  to  be 
any  such  tradition  among  the  Hawaiians,  who  think 
of  Hawaii  as  being  simply  their  "big  island,"  the  birth- 
place of  their  race,  and  hence  the  only  name  by  which 
they  could  call  themselves. 

■=•  Emigrants  from  the  northwest  of  the  Deccan  invaded 
this  island  and  settled  there;  they  found  that  the 
people  who  were  already  in  possession  called  it  Java 
and  they  perpetuated  the  name.  But  since  the  San- 
skrit word  Java  or  Jawa  means  barley,  which  has  never 
been  grown  there,  the  new-comers  claimed  this  name 
was  derived  from  their  own  language  and  asserted 
ethnic  affinity,  although  maintaining  social  superiority. 
By  this  process  of  reasoning  is  one  of  the  chains  forged 
which  connect  the  Malayo-Polynesian  language,  and 
the  peoples  who  speak  it,  with  the  Aryans  of  north- 
western India  and  farther  on  into  Asia. 

The  name  for  Oahu,  another  unit  of  the  Hawaiian 


268  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

archipelago,  is  connected  with  Ouahou,  "a  tract  of 
country  in  Central  and  Southeastern  Borneo,  occupied 
by  Dyak  tribes."  The  name  of  Molokai  is  derived 
from  Morotay,  one  of  the  Moluccas,  northeast  of 
Gilolo.  Niihau  corresponds  to  Lifao,  a  place  on  the 
island  of  Timor.  Kauai  refers  to  Tawai,  one  of  the 
Batchian  islands,  west  of  Gilolo  and  north  of  the  Mo- 
luccas, or  to  Kawai,  a  district  in  the  southwest  of 
Sumatra.  Kohala,  an  important  district  of  Hawaii 
Island,  is  made  to  come  from  Koshala  or  Kosala,  an 
ancient  name  of  the  kingdom  of  Oude,  in  India.  There 
are  many  more  of  these  resemblances  which  almost 
seem  to  lend  a  colour  of  plausibility  to  the  ingenious 
plan  for  connecting  the  Hawaiians  ethnically  with  the 
inhabitants  of  India;  nevertheless,  the  physical  ap- 
pearance of  the  Hawaiians  themselves  presents  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  accepting  the  reasoning. 

The  Polynesian  language  is  said  by  some  authors  to 
be  much  more  primitive  than  the  Malayan,  and  to 
belong  to  a  primitive  state  of  society.  That  is  probably 
true;  and  yet  if  languages  are  measured  as  to  their 
antiquity  by  the  development  which  proceeds  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex,  from  monosyllables  to  polysyl- 
lables, from  agglutination  to  inflection,  it  seems  as  if 
the  Polynesian  were  one  of  the  oldest  forms  of  speech 
used  by  man  in  any  part  of  the  world.  This  argument 
may  properly  be  applied  to  all  the  dialects  found  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

Going  back  so  far  in  time  that  speculation  becomes 
mere  guesswork,  it  is  probable  that  the  Polynesians, 
whether  they  previously  had  arrived  from  the  west  or 


THE     POLYNESIAN     LANGUAGE       269 

northwest,  after  they  had  left  the  archipelago  which 
we  know  restrictively  as  the  East  Indies,  followed  both 
the  southern  route,  by  way  of  Torres  Straits,  separating 
Australia  from  Papua  or  New  Guinea;  or  the  Gilolo 
Passage,  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  between  Gilolo 
Island  and  the  islets  intervening  between  it  and  Papua, 
until  they  reached  the  Fiji  Islands  and  the  Tonga  or 
Friendly  Islands.  This  would  account  for  that  connec- 
tion with  the  Papuans  which  is  indicated  by  language. 
This  intercourse  was  not  always  friendly  and  at  least 
one  writer  *  has  recorded  a  tradition  that  Tonga-loa, 
one  of  the  principal  gods,  had  two  sons,  of  whom  the 
elder  was  called  Tu-po,  the  younger,  Vaka-ako-uli. 
The  elder  was  indolent  and  shiftless;  the  younger, 
industrious  and  prosperous.  Jealousy  led  the  former 
to  kill  the  latter,  and  then  their  father  summoned 
Tupo  and  the  family  of  Vakaakouli  to  appear  before 
him.  To  the  latter  he  said:  "Your  bodies  shall  be  as 
fair  as  the  spirit  of  your  father  was  good  and  pure. 
Take  your  canoes  and  travel  to  the  eastward;  and  my 
blessing  go  with  you."  But  to  the  elder  brother  he 
spoke  in  anger,  saying:  "Thy  body  shall  be  black  as 
thy  soul  is  wicked  and  unclean.  I  will  raise  the  east 
wind  between  you  and  your  brother's  family,  so  that 
you  cannot  go  to  them;  yet  I  will  allow  them  to  come 
to  you  from  time  to  time,  in  order  that  they  may  trade 
with  you."  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  migration  of 
the  people  who  became  the  inhabitants  of  Hawaii  may 
not  have  been  a  voluntary  move,  after  all;  but  the 

*  Martin,  John,  AnAccotmt  of  the  Natives  of  the  Tonga  Islands,  Com- 
piled from  the  Extensive  Communications  of  Will.  Mariner,  London,  1818. 


270  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

legend  tends  to  furnish  an  explanation  to  the  fact  of 
those  people  being  able  to  understand  the  southerners 
who  accompanied  Cook. 

Linguistic  connection  is  seldom  so  distinctly  indicated 
in  any  other  way  as  it  is  by  adages,  proverbs,  signs,  and 
omens.  Those  of  Hawaii  are  almost  precisely  matched 
in  phraseology,  as  well  as  in  meaning  and  application, 
by  those  of  the  other  islanders.  A  very  few  of  many 
are  given  here;  and  those  have  been  chosen  that  are 
very  similar  to  some  which  good  Caucasians  are  even 
now  disposed  to  accept  as  signs  or  omens.  Maku-paa, 
"A  blind  person."  If  you  meet  a  blind  person  in  the 
road,  it  is  a  bad  sign;  but  if  two  are  met,  the  sign  is 
good.  Kahea-kua-ia,  "CalHng  after  another,"  or 
'falling  somebody  back."  When  you  have  started 
on  a  journey  and  someone  calls  after  you,  or  bids  you 
return,  it  is  a  bad  sign.  Therefore,  to  prevent  this, 
the  traveller  should  always  tell  the  people  at  home 
whither  he  is  going  and  his  purpose.  Kani-ana  0  ka 
ula  0  ka  pepeiao,  "Ringing  sounds  in  the  ear."  Such 
a  noise  in  the  ears  is  a  sign  that  someone  is  speaking  ill 
of  you.  If  it  is  in  the  right  ear,  a  man  is  maligning 
you;  if  in  the  left  a  woman.* 

*  These,  and  others,  will  be  found  in  Fomander,  op.  cit. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
SPORTS  AND  PASTIMES 

IN  spite  of  the  fact  that  so  much  of  the  Kterature 
which  has  been  produced  by  the  true  Hawaiians 
is  tinged  with  sadness,  and  that  many  of  their  songs 
have  a  pathetic  meaning  set  to  a  mournful  cadence, 
the  people  are  correctly  described  as  loving  pleasure 
and  being  extravagantly  fond  of  sports.  This  seeming 
paradox  is  explained  by  the  fact  of  the  Hawaiians 
being  able  to  dissociate  their  aspect  of  their  condition, 
when  muscular  activity  calls  upon  them  to  exert  them- 
selves in  a  different  manner. 

Cook  and  his  companions  were  much  pleased  with 
the  grace  displayed  by  the  natives  in  their  dances;  to 
most  of  which  those  early  European  visitors  attached  a 
semi-religious  character.  But  this  was  doubtless  a 
misapprehension;  at  least  until  the  return  of  the  ex- 
pedition and  the  rendering  to  Cook  himself  the  rever- 
ence those  people  paid  to  their  gods:  then,  of  course, 
the  dances  were  distinctly  religious. 

Later  observers  commented  unfavourably  upon  the 
licentiousness  and  lewdly  suggestive  motions  which  the 
women  too  often  displayed  when  dancing.  Vancouver 
was  frankly  and  justly  open  in  condemning  the  dance 
he  witnessed  on  Hawaii  Island;  but  he  was  pleased 
with  the  graceful  and  modest  performances  of  the  six 


272  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

hundred  women  who  were  dressed  in  beautifully  figured 
tapa  cloth,  and  executed  a  sort  of  grand  ballet  with 
which  he  was  entertained  on  Kauai  Island  before  taking 
his  final  departure  from  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Jarves  speaks  of  hula  (dances)  of  various  character: 
some  of  them,  the  hula  alaapapa  (as  the  name  implies), 
were  interspersed  with  chants  relating  the  achievements 
of  former  rulers  and  great  chiefs,  or  in  honour  of  the 
gods.  "The  dancers  were  decorated  with  necklaces 
of  human  hair,  supporting  ornaments  of  bone  or  whale's 
teeth.  Bracelets  and  buskins  of  network,  thickly  set 
with  the  teeth  of  dogs  or  hogs,  encircled  their  wrists 
and  ankles.  Their  motions  were  sometimes  active, 
sometimes  slow  and  graceful,  and  in  perfect  time  with 
the  music  of  rude  drums,  made  from  large  calabashes, 
with  apertures  at  the  top,  or  hollow  logs  tastefully 
carved  and  covered  at  the  ends  with  shark's  skin. 
The  former  were  alternately  beaten  with  the  palms  of 
the  hands,  and  struck  on  the  ground  on  which  cloth  was 
laid.  The  gesticulations  of  the  musicians  were  violent, 
and  they  also  joined  in  the  chants." 

There  were,  too,  professional  dancers,  men  and 
women,  who  performed  at  religious  gatherings  in 
honour  of  the  gods,  or  for  the  amusement  of  the  chiefs. 
These  performances  were  almost  invariably  lewd  and 
nasty,  and  merely  a  preliminary  to  the  wildest  of 
drunken,  immoral  orgies.  Children,  of  both  sexes, 
often  danced  together  and  their  actions  were  always 
graceful  and  pleasing,  the  natural  abandon  being 
vastly  different  from  the  deliberate  wantonness  of 
their  elders.     Men  and  women  also  danced  together 


SPORTS     AND     PASTIMES  273 

at  times  —  although  never,  of  course,  in  anything 
approximating  our  ''round"  or  "square"  dances. 
But  rarely  could  these  adult  performances  be  described 
truthfully  as  have  been  those  of  the  youngsters;  they 
were  usually  intentionally  licentious  and  suggestive. 

But  dancing  was  by  no  means  the  only  pastime  of 
which  the  ancient  Hawaiians  were  fond.  Amongst 
the  men  there  were  boxing-matches  that  were  regulated 
strictly  by  "prize-ring  rules"  administered  by  managers 
and  an  umpire.  These  bouts  were  usually  between 
representatives  of  jealous  clans,  and  it  was  considered 
the  duty  of  the  first  victor  to  challenge  again,  and  to 
continue  doing  so  until  he  himself  was  "knocked  out" 
by  someone  from  the  opposing  clan;  then  his  conqueror 
passed  on  the  challenge. 

When  no  more  opponents  responded  to  a  challenge, 
the  man  who  still  held  the  ring  was  declared  winner  of 
the  tournament,  and  he  was  given  the  highest  honours. 
A  certain  unfairness  in  this  plan  will  at  once  strike  the 
reader;  because  one  man  could  hardly  keep  up  the 
strain  and  "knock  out"  all  the  opponents  who  came 
against  him. 

These  boxing-matches  often  were  fatal  to  one  of  the 
participants,  and  sometimes  to  both  of  them.  "The 
spectators  delighted  in  blows  that  brought  blood,  and 
stimulated  the  combatants  with  shouts  and  yells  of 
applause,  dancing,  and  other  wild  expressions  of  de- 
light, until,  as  it  frequently  happened,  many  were 
slain."  For  the  general  excitement  often  led  to  the 
entire  clans  engaging  in  a  regular  "free  fight"  to  the 
death. 


274  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Foot  races  were  common,  as  is  to  be  expected  amongst 
a  people  whose  rulers  had  messengers  who  could  travel 
three  hundred  miles  over  wretched  roads  and  narrow, 
steep,  and  difl&cult  mountain  paths,  in  eight  or  nine 
days.  Coasting  on  steep  hills,  without  any  snow,  of 
course,  with  a  thin,  smooth,  and  narrow  board  for  a 
sled,  was  another  popular  sport  with  both  sexes  of  all 
classes.  Then  there  was  pahee,  a  game  in  which  heavy 
wooden  darts,  from  two  to  five  feet  long,  were  glanced 
(not  thrown)  along  a  smooth,  level  floor  most  carefully 
prepared  for  the  purpose ;  the  object  being  to  make  the 
darts  rest  as  near  as  possible  to  certain  marks.  The 
sport  called  for  the  utmost  dexterity;  for  not  only  was 
it  desirable  to  make  one's  own  dart  lie  well,  but  also 
to  displace  an  opponent's  which  stood  to  win.  Ulu 
maika  was  a  kind  of  lawn-bowls,  in  which  stone  disks, 
highly  pohshed,  were  used,  and  rolled  at  marks; 
dexterity  similar  to  that  in  pahee  was  required  in  this 
game,  as  well  as  manual  strength  in  hurling  the  heavy 
disks.  Loulou  was  a  trial  of  strength  by  hooking 
fingers  with  a  competitor  and  trying  to  force  him  to 
his  knees,  or  compel  him  to  cry  "enough." 

Of  quiet  games,  calling  for  no  display  of  strength  or 
physical  dexterity,  there  were  konane,  a  kind  of  draughts 
or  checkers,  played  with  coloured  stones  upon  a  board 
having  a  much  greater  number  of  squares  than  ours. 
Puhenehene  was  another  of  these;  in  it  someone  hid  a 
stone  under  one  of  five  bundles  of  loose  cloth  thrown 
upon  the  ground  in  front  of  the  spectators:  this  could  be 
done  by  an  expert  so  cleverly  that  —  even  when  per- 
formed in  full  sight  of  the  watchers — they  could  only 


SPORTS     AND     PASTIMES  275 

guess  where  the  stone  was,  and  were  far  oftener  wrong 
than  correct.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  curious 
visitor  may  be  able  to  induce  some  of  the  natives  to 
play  all  these  old-fashioned  games  for  his  entertain- 
ment; it  is  quite  certain  that  none  of  the  dances  has 
been  entirely  forgotten,  although  it  is  rather  shameful 
to  say  that  some  of  the  more  licentious  hula  are  more 
popular  with  a  certain  class  of  visitors  than  the  proper, 
ceremonial  ones. 

But  swimming  and  surf  bathing  were  the  ideal  sports 
in  which  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  young  and 
old  took  part  with  the  keenest  delight.  Not  only  was 
there  ordinary  surf-riding,  with  or  without  a  board, 
but  there  were  honuhonu,  swimming  with  the  hands 
only,  the  feet  being  fast  interlocked  and  motionless  — 
let  someone  try  it  who  thinks  this  an  easy  trick;  kula- 
kalai,  wrestling  in  the  sea;  lelekawa,  leaping  from 
precipices  into  water,  and  a  hundred  other  forms  of 
this  sport  of  which  the  Hawaiians  were  extravagantly 
fond.  Indeed,  they  were  quite  as  much  at  home  in 
the  sea  as  on  dry  land. 

Fighting  and  killing  sharks  in  their  native  element 
was,  and  is,  simply  sport  for  the  natives.  Provided 
with  a  sharp  knife,  and  in  former  times  this  was  only 
a  stone  implement,  it  must  be  remembered,  they  would 
dive  into  the  water  and  tease  the  shark  in  all  manner  of 
ways,  skilfully  evading  his  jaws,  and  when  they  were 
ready  to  do  so,  despatch  him  with  an  undercut,  or  put 
a  stick  between  his  jaws  and  capture  him  alive. 

It  is  but  natural  to  think  first  of  sea-bathing  when 
about  to  consider  the  sports  and  pastimes  of  our  Island 


276  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Territory;  and  the  very  broad  statement  that  Honolulu 
has  the  most  perfect  bathing  resort  in  the  world  is  one 
which  is  actually  borne  out  by  the  facts.  This  is  what 
an  Englishman  *  wrote  of  it:  "One  great  joy  of  Hono- 
lulu is  the  sea-bathing,  for  nothing  can  surpass  it. 
Those  who  find  delight  in  this  rudimentary  pursuit 
must  go  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  understand  it  in 
perfection.  It  may  be  claimed  that  there  is  luxurious 
bathing  on  the  Lido  by  Venice,  or  at  Atlantic  City,  or 
on  the  coast  between  Cape  Town  and  Durban.  These 
places,  as  Mercutio  said  of  his  wound,  'will  serve,' 
but  they  fail  to  approach  such  bathing  as  can  be  found 
in  the  cove  which  lies  in  the  shelter  of  Diamond  Head." 
It  was  of  Waikiki  Beach  that  Sir  Frederick  was 
speaking,  and  no  one  who  has  seen  that  place,  three 
miles  east  of  the  city  of  Honolulu,  and  reached  in  a  few 
minutes  by  electric  tram-car,  hesitates  for  a  moment  in 
adding  his  confirmation  to  the  favourable  opinion  of 
the  thousands  of  visitors  who  have  been  there.  When 
to  inspection  is  added  the  joy  of  the  actual  bathing, 
enthusiasm  comes  promptly  to  add  fervour  to  the 
endorsement.  Waikiki  Beach  is  truly  a  remarkable 
place,  and  it  may  be  stated,  parenthetically,  that  the 
park,  the  cocoanut  palms,  the  flowers,  and  all  other 
scenic  attractions  make  it  a  charming  place  of  resort. 
The  smooth  sands  of  the  beach  slope  gradually  down 
into  and  under  the  water,  rising  again  to  the  great 
coral  reef  itself,  a  mile  or  more  off  shore,  which  stands 
as  an  efficient  barrier  against  the  trespassing  of  sharks, 

*  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  Bart.,  Sergeant-Surgeon  to  H.  B.  M.,  King 
Edward  VII. 


SPORTS     AND     PASTIMES  277 

those  "tigers  of  the  sea"  that  are  plentiful  in  the  water 
outside  the  reef,  both  here  and  at  all  parts  of  the  archi- 
pelago. 

Against  that  firm  protecting  wall  off  Waikiki,  "the 
mighty  rollers  from  the  sea  stub  their  toes  and  pitch 
headlong  in  foam-crested  torrents  across  the  lagoon 
and  on  to  the  white  coral  sand  of  the  beach";  but  there 
is  absolutely  no  undertow  at  any  time.  The  water  of 
this  lagoon,  clean,  clear  sea  brine,  scarcely  varies  from 
78°  Fahrenheit  in  temperature  the  whole  year  round. 
Surf-bathing  at  Waikiki  is,  therefore,  a  perennial  sport, 
and  the  crowd  during  the  late  afternoon  of  a  January 
day  is  quite  as  likely  as  not  to  be  as  large  as  is  that  of 
mid-August.  Between  beach  and  reef,  the  bather 
finds  water  of  any  depth  to  suit  his  fancy. 

It  is  here  only  that  the  stranger  may  witness,  if  he 
is  not  disposed  to  participate  actively  in,  the  remark- 
able sports  of  canoeing  in  the  surf  and  riding  the  great 
breakers:  the  most  thrilling,  exhilarating,  fascinating, 
health-reviving  sports  in  the  world.  For  both  of 
them,  one  puts  on  a  bathing-suit,  and  the  conventions 
at  Waikiki  permit  a  certain  freedom  and  comfort  in 
these  which  are  defied  at  more  "proper"  beaches.  The 
novice  at  surf -canoeing  will,  of  course,  commit  himself 
to  the  care  of  an  experienced  hand,  and  take  his  place 
in  one  of  the  narrow,  graceful  canoes  that  are  fitted  with 
an  outrigger  to  give  them  stability. 

The  skilful  natives  or  foreigners  will  paddle  out  to 
the  edge  of  the  reef  and  quickly  turn  the  light  craft 
bow  towards  the  shore  before  an  incoming  breaker. 
The  wave  catches  up  the  canoe  Hke  a  feather  on  the 


278  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

slope  of  its  front,  sending  it  shoreward  in  a  cloud  of 
spray  at  a  speed  which  approximates  that  of  a  "hmited- 
express"  train,  and  sometimes,  if  the  comber  is  rather 
exceptionally  big  and  enduring,  right  up  onto  the 
sands  of  the  beach. 

Dexterity  is  required  in  this  sport;  but  much  more 
in  the  surf-board  riding  and  the  latter  must  be  the 
actor's  own,  gained  by  personal  experience.  For  this 
a  Hght,  thin,  and  rather  narrow  board  is  required,  and 
it  is  usually  pointed  at  the  front  end  to  make  it  travel 
faster  than  it  would  otherwise  do.  The  swimmer, 
and  none  must  attempt  surf-board  riding  who  is  not  a 
good  one,  pushes  his  board  out  through  the  breakers, 
and  then  Hes  upon  it,  facing  the  shore.  He  then 
watches  the  waves  until  he  sees  one  coming  that  is 
big  enough  to  please  him,  when  he  paddles  with  both 
hands  to  get  himself  going  at  about  the  same  speed  as 
the  breaker  is  running  when  it  overtakes  him.  Then, 
if  he  has  been  sufficiently  adept,  the  surge  does  the 
rest,  carrying  him  furiously  towards  the  beach,  "like 
a  chip  in  a  mill-race."  But  suppose  the  would-be 
rider  is  not  sufficiently  adept?  Then  he  and  his  board 
are  tumbled  about  most  beautifully,  and  therein  is  the 
danger. 

Those  who  have  acquired  somewhat  exceptional 
proficiency  can  kneel  upon  their  boards,  or  even  stand 
upright  after  the  ride  has  fairly  begun;  but  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  the  beginner  does  not  perform  this  feat 
with  marked  success  for  some  time.  In  fact,  it  is  no 
easy  trick  to  ride  a  wave  at  all,  and  capsizes  are  many 
for  the  beginner;    but  such  little  episodes  merely  add 


SPORTS     AND     PASTIMES  279 

zest  to  the  fascinating  sport.  Fascinating  it  surely 
must  be,  for  the  devotees  give  hours  to  it.  To  see  an 
expert  come  plunging  shoreward  on  the  crest  of  a  big 
wave  that  is  boiling  all  about  him  makes  the  inex- 
perienced onlooker  catch  his  breath.  The  Hawaiians 
themselves  have  practised  surf  swimming  in  every  form 
of  the  sport  for  ages,  and  they  are  all  adepts,  skill 
seeming  to  come  to  them  with  their  mothers'  milk! 
Yet  nowadays  the  haole  —  foreigner  —  boys  and  girls, 
men  and  even  a  few  grown  women  are  pushing  the 
natives  hard  for  first  honours;  and  every  day  of  the 
year  sees  a  crowd  of  bathers  at  Waikiki,  most  of  them 
trying  their  hands  at  surf-canoeing  or  surf -board  riding. 
But  if  precedence  is  justly  given  to  Waikiki  Beach 
as  being  the  ideal  place  for  sea-bathing,  that  does  not 
mean  that  good  bathing  is  a  monopoly  of  Honolulu. 
On  Cocoanut  Island,  the  Httle  beauty  spot  in  Hilo 
Bay,  Hawaii  Island,  there  is  another  beach  that  is 
almost  as  good  as  Oahu's  best.  Kauai  Island,  too,  is 
especially  proud  of  her  bathing  beaches.  Almost 
every  district  of  this  last-mentioned  island  has  its 
beach  which  has  been  famous  since  prehistoric  times. 
Hanalei,  on  the  north  coast,  claims  one  of  the  best  of 
these,  and  it  offers  the  added  feature  of  freshwater 
bathing,  in  Hanalei  River,  the  largest  stream  of  the 
territory.  This  place,  from  the  fact  that  it  has  a 
good  hotel,  is  one  of  the  most  popular  places  in  all 
Hawaii  with  transient  visitors.  At  a  place  called 
Palihili,  on  the  west  coast,  near  the  "Barking  Sands," 
is  another  beach  that  is  famous,  especially  with  the 
native    Hawaiians    themselves.     It    was    one    of    the 


28o  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

"lucky  places"  in  olden  times,  and  even  nowadays 
those  people  believe  that  there  is  special  benefit  to  be 
had  by  bathing  at  Palihili.  The  sand  of  the  beach, 
at  "Barking  Sands,"  is  coarse  and  becomes  filled  with 
air  when  uncovered;  just  at  the  turn  of  the  tide,  when 
the  flood  begins  to  make,  the  incoming  water  expels 
the  air,  causing  a  peculiar  sound  which  induces  the 
name.  But  every  one  of  the  territory's  principal 
islands,  and  pretty  nearly  every  coast  of  them,  has  its 
bathing  beach  which  would  be  called  admirable  any- 
where, and  yields  precedence  merely  to  the  superlative 
excellence  of  Waikiki,  Cocoanut  Island,  and  Hanalei. 

Hawaii,  being  essentially  an  outdoor  country,  where 
houses  are  needed  only  §,s  places  of  shelter  from  rain, 
or  as  conveniences  for  those  who  must  sleep  in  beds, 
and  being  moreover  a  country  of  surprisingly  equable 
climate  where,  notwithstanding  it  is  within  the  tropics, 
the  tropical  sun  possesses  little  terror,  it  is  obvious  that 
outdoor  sports  of  all  kinds  are  very  popular.  There 
are  several  athletic  associations,  and  clubs  without 
number;  these  are  either  purely  social  or  they  affiliate 
with  some  particular  pastiJne.  The  rehgious  and 
kindred  organisations  are  not  considered  here. 

Golf  links  have  been  laid  out  in  many  locahties  and 
all  classes  of  residents  take  kindly  to  the  game.  The 
Honolulu  Country  Club  has  a  large  and  influential 
membership,  and  its  golf  finks  are  probably  the  best 
in  the  territory.  Tennis  is  Hkewise  extremely  popular 
and  there  are  club  or  private  courts  everywhere. 
Football,  baseball,  cricket,  and  all  kindred  games  are 
played  with  great  spirit. 


SPORTS     AND     PASTIMES  281 

Since  the  United  States  War  Department  established 
cavalry  barracks  near  the  capital,  polo  has  increased  in 
popularity.  There  is  at  least  one  Polo  Club  on  each 
island,  and  until  the  present  time  those  local  clubs 
have  proved  themselves  to  be  more  than  a  match  for 
the  soldiers. 

It  is  but  to  be  expected  that  sports  on  the  water  are 
extremely  popular.  The  lagoons  offer  excellent  courses 
for  rowing  and  for  smaller  sailboats,  while  the  stiff 
breezes  in  the  deeper  waters  beyond  the  reefs  give  the 
yachtsmen  all  they  can  ask.  The  Hawaii  Yacht  Club 
has  sumptuous  quarters  at  Pearl  Harbor,  and  the 
association  paid  the  modest  sum  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  sailing  yacht  Hawaii.  She  won 
the  Trans-Pacific  Yacht  Race  between  San  Pedro, 
California,  and  Honolulu,  in  1910,  and  was  second  in 
1912. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
SOCIAL  LIFE 

WHEN  is  the  best  time  of  the  year  to  visit  the 
Hawaiian  Islands?  The  question  almost  auto- 
matically asks  itself,  and  the  answer  is  a  very  simple 
one.  Any  month  of  the  year  is  about  as  good  as  any 
other,  because  there  are  no  marked  seasons,  as  we  know 
them,  or  as  the  "rainy"  and  "dry"  seasons  are  so 
sharply  defined  in  most  other  tropical  countries.  The 
weather  of  the  months  of  May  and  June,  as  the  phrase 
would  be  understood  in  the  northern  and  eastern  parts 
of  the  United  States,  is  practically  continuous  through- 
out the  Hawaiian  year. 

For  the  year  191 2,  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau 
at  Honolulu  recorded  the  highest  temperature  in 
August,  87°  Fahrenheit;  and  the  lowest  in  February, 
60°.  The  extreme  range  therefore  was  only  27°;  but 
during  the  entire  year  the  greatest  difference  between 
maximum  and  minimum  during  a  whole  month  was 
17°,  in  August;  the  least,  12°,  in  November.  The 
average  range  of  these  maxima  was  142°;  but  the 
actual  daily  change  in  temperature  for  the  twelve 
months  was  iTTr°-  There  was  nothing  remarkable 
about  that  year  and  its  record  may  be  taken  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  climate  of  Honolulu  for  any  year. 

Another  matter  that  will  interest  the  prospective 
visitor  is  the  rainfall.     Stated  in  inches  and  hundredths 


SOCIAL     LIFE  283 

thereof,  the  greatest  precipitation  at  Honolulu  for  the 
year  1912  was  3.05  in  February;  the  least,  0.27,  in 
July.  During  October,  November,  and  December,  it 
was  2.40,  2.50,  and  2.09,  respectively:  hence  these 
may  be  called  "the  rainy  season";  although  residents 
rather  object  to  the  term  as  applied  to  any  part  of  the 
year.  The  average  monthly  rainfall  for  that  year  was, 
therefore,  only  1.225  inches.  There  are  many  places  in 
the  territory  where  the  rainfall  is  much  heavier  than 
at  Honolulu.  All  localities  that  face  the  east  and  He 
open  to  the  trade-winds  are  likely  to  have  a  heavy 
precipitation,  and  the  island  of  Kauai  is  noted  for  being 
almost  constantly  drenched;  and  as  a  consequence  its 
vegetation  is  phenomenal. 

One  observer  has  stated  that  people  live  so  comforta- 
bly in  Hawaii  that  no  thought  is  given  to  the  character 
of  the  cHmate;  just  as  a  sound  man  lives  oblivious  of 
his  liver.  "A  person  newly  arrived  from  the  lands 
where  snows  and  sunstrokes  prevail,  could  give  a  more 
convincing  description  of  our  days  and  nights  than 
one  who  through  sheer  content  had  lost  all  sense  of 
perspective."  *  This  information  about  climate  and 
rainfall  is  not  so  discursive  as  it  may  seem  to  be,  for 
they  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  subject  of 
this  chapter. 

In  order  to  see  the  social  hfe  of  the  territory  at  its 
brightest  and  gayest,  it  is  probably  best  to  go  there 
during  the  summer  months,  when  the  lads  and  lassies 
who  have  been  sent  ''home"  to  attend  school,  college, 

*  Cofer,  Dr.  Leland  E.,  Assistant  Surgeon  General,  U.S.A.,  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  Service. 


284  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

or  university  are  more  truly  ''at  home,"  being  then 
with  parents  and  relatives  for  the  joys  of  the  long  vaca- 
tion, and  they  so  often  bring  chums  with  them.  Natu- 
rally, special  effort  is  made  to  give  them  enjoyment,  and 
social  gatherings  of  all  kinds  are  more  numerous  than 
at  other  times,  even  if  some  of  the  permanent  resi- 
dents have  gone  to  the  hills,  for  change  rather  than  for 
needed  recuperation — because  the  anaemic  Anglo-Saxon 
so  often  seen  in  other  tropical  countries  is  an  almost 
unknown  creature  in  Hawaii. 

The  person  who  contemplates  a  visit  to  or  a  lengthy 
sojourn  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  may  reKeve  himself 
of  the  burden  of  carrying  much  in  the  way  of  wardrobe. 
For  the  ocean  voyage  it  is  necessary  to  have  something 
warm,  a  good  topcoat  and  a  steamer  rug;  but  the 
ordinary  summer  clothing  that  is  worn  at  home  will  be 
quite  sufficient  when  once  arrived  in  the  territory.  It 
is  scarcely  necessary  to  take  extra  clothing  of  any  sort, 
inside  or  outer,  because  all  wants  of  this  kind  can  be 
readily  suppHed  in  the  Honolulu  stores  and  shops  at 
prices  which  will  generally  be  found  lower  than  those 
demanded  in  the  United  States.  Some  American  men 
and  women  who  have  long  graduated  from  the  mala- 
hine,  "new-comer,"  class  continue  to  dress  about  the 
same  as  they  would  do  in  summer  at  home;  but  many 
more  promptly  avail  themselves  of  dressing  in  white, 
flannels  or  serges  preferably,  although  duck  is  common, 
and  that  certain  negligee  in  costume  which  is  rather 
characteristic  of  society  in  the  tropics. 

The  stranger  who  intends  making  but  a  short  stay 
will  find  hotels  to  satisfy  his  wants,  whether  they  are 


SOCIAL     LIFE  285 

sybaritish  in  the  demand  for  luxury,  or  of  that  severe 
simplicity  which  is  sometimes  required  by  a  thin  purse. 
Those  who  contemplate  a  prolonged  stay  will  be  better 
satisfied  with  either  a  rented  house,  furnished,  or  apart- 
ments in  one  of  the  numerous  boarding-houses  which 
cater  to  all  classes  of  patrons;  in  the  rented  bungalow, 
the  "awful  servant  question"  will  have  to  be  faced, 
however,  but  it  is  the  only  way  to  get  the  maximum 
of  social  enjoyment. 

The  letters  of  introduction  which  the  visitor  will  of 
course  carry  with  him  will  prove  a  potent  "open 
sesame";  for  hospitality  is  as  marked  a  trait  of  the  resi- 
dent foreign  society  as  is  the  attractiveness  of  climate 
and  surroundings.  That  hospitality  had  its  founda- 
tion in  the  open-handed  freedom  of  the  native  Ha- 
waiians,  and  upon  that  base  it  was  but  natural  that 
the  stranger  from  America  or  Europe  who  came  to 
take  up  his  abode  permanently  should  build  and 
incorporate  the  wider  range  of  Anglo-Saxon  social 
intercourse.  The  stranger  feels  at  once  the  influence 
of  this  pleasing  combination  or  development,  and  the 
charm  of  climate  is  widened  by  the  warmth  of  his 
reception.  Wherever  the  visitor  goes  he  will  meet 
with  the  utmost  cordiality,  and  his  creature  comforts 
will  be  well  cared  for,  if  his  Hawaiian  or  Haole  host  can 
accompHsh  it;  every  luxury  will  be  at  his  command. 
All  this  tends  to  make  social  life  most  delightful. 

The  fraternal  orders  ■ —  both  those  which  are  of 
world-wide  influence  and  those  that  are  more  or  less 
restricted  to  the  United  States  —  are  very  popular  in 
Hawaii.     There  are  lodges  of  Masons,  Odd  Fellows, 


286  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Knights  of  Pythias,  Elks,  Legion  of  Honor,  Woodmen 
of  the  World,  Foresters,  Eagles,  and  various  other 
fraternal  and  social  orders.  The  professional  associa- 
tions, such  as  the  Loyal  Legion,  Grand  Army  Posts, 
etc.,  as  well  as  the  Societies,  Colonial  Wars,  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and  others  are  repre- 
sented, if  they  are  not  formally  organised. 

Of  purely  social  clubs  at  Honolulu,  the  number  is 
surprisingly  great,  when  the  relatively  small  size  of  the 
foreign  community  is  considered.  The  oldest  of  these 
is  now  known  as  the  Pacific  Club,  but  when  founded, 
away  back  in  1853,  it  was  called  the  British  Club.  It 
still  occupies  its  old  quarters  on  Alakea  Street,  and  its 
house  is  a  spacious  domicile  with  broad  verandas  on 
both  floors,  so  that  the  large  rooms  are  always  cool; 
because  the  French  windows  on  all  sides  catch  any 
breath  of  wind.  The  reader  is  asked  to  call  to  mind 
the  clubs  in  this  country  that  have  been  in  existence 
for  sixty  consecutive  years  and  still  are  flourishing. 

The  University,  Commercial,  City,  Ofiicers',  Scotch 
Thistle,  and  sundry  restricted  Alumni  associations,  as 
for  example  the  Kamehameha,  Harvard,  Yale,  etc., 
are  the  names  of  a  few  others  of  these  social  clubs. 
They  are  all  installed  in  smaller  quarters  than  the 
Pacific,  yet  always  their  pretty  cottages  or  bungalows, 
surrounded  by  gardens  filled  with  cocoanut  trees,  other 
palms,  and  flowers,  are  most  attractive.  Perhaps  the 
University  is  a  little  more  exclusive  than  the  others  — 
excepting,  of  course,  the  Alumni  associations  —  but 
this  comes  about  mainly  because  of  the  required  quah- 
fication  for  membership;   and  as  a  corollary,  its  mem- 


SOCIAL     LIFE  287 

bers  are  rather  more  youthful  than  those  which  permit 
of  more  general  membership.  Most  of  the  army  and 
navy  officers  stationed  in  the  territory  accept  temporary 
privileges,  and  the  permanent  roll  includes  men  who 
have  studied  in  American,  Enghsh,  German,  or  other 
universities. 

The  luncheon  hour  is  the  time  when  these  clubs  are 
most  hvely,  because  to  them  nearly  all  the  business 
and  professional  men  go  at  that  time;  not  only  for 
refreshment  of  the  inner  man,  but  often  to  talk  busi- 
ness, "close  deals,"  and  gossip  —  for  that  last  is  not 
and  never  has  been  a  feminine  monopoly  in  Hawaii 
any  more  than  it  is  in  any  other  country  of  the  world. 
There  is,  however,  one  characteristic  of  Hfe  at  Honolulu 
and  elsewhere  throughout  the  territory,  which  is  in 
sharp  contrast  with  what  is  to  be  noticed  in  many 
tropical  countries.  The  business  men  do  not  go  to 
their  clubs  to  rest  for  an  hour  or  two  at  noon,  and  the 
siesta,  so  popular  in  many  similar  latitudes,  is  unknown. 
Indeed  the  business  man  in  Hawaii  keeps  just  about  as 
long  hours  and  works  just  about  as  hard  as  does  his 
fellow  in  California,  Illinois,  Pennsylvania,  or  New  York. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  a  large, 
modern,  and  attractive  building  in  the  centre  of  Hono- 
lulu, and  its  quarters  are  characteristically  comfortable. 
This  admirable  institution  serves  as  a  club,  both  in  its 
restaurant  and  dormitories,  for  a  large  number  of  the 
young  men  who  cannot  afford  to  belong  to  one  of  the 
regular  clubs.  Besides,  it  furnishes  a  good  "home" 
for  many  who  are  "floating":  that  is  either  just  passing 
through  the  city,  on  their  way  to  or  returning  from 


288  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

Asia;  or  those  who  have  come  to  the  territory  seeking 
employment  and  have  not  yet  become  permanently 
established. 

To  attempt  to  tell  what  the  wives  and  daughters  and 
sisters  of  the  business,  professional,  and  military  men 
are  doing  while  their  menfolks  are  at  their  clubs  would 
be  simply  to  narrate  what  women  do  everywhere. 
Women's  luncheons  are  just  as  popular  in  the  territory 
as  they  are  on  the  continents  of  America,  Europe,  Asia, 
or  Africa;  and  there  are  in  Hawaii  no  climatic  reasons 
why  they  should  not  be :  because  there  is  nothing  about 
those  "tropics"  to  make  this  form  of  social  entertain- 
ment an  impossibility  on  account  of  the  enervating, 
debilitating  heat. 

The  morning  or  afternoon  "bridge  party"  is  quite 
as  popular  with  the  women  of  Oahu  and  Hawaii  as  it 
is  elsewhere.  The  business  afternoon  of  Honolulu  and 
all  the  places  where  the  money  making  arts  are  prac- 
tised with  sufficient  enthusiasm  as  to  permit  of  the  use 
of  the  term  "business  centres"  is  a  long  one,  and  it  is 
never  earHer  than  five  o'clock  when  there  takes  place 
the  mingling  of  sexes  at  the  Country  Club,  on  the  golf 
links,  at  the  tennis  courts,  Waikiki  Beach,  and  the 
many  places  where  society  congregates. 

When  night  has  fallen  and  darkness  puts  a  stop  to 
ordinary  outdoor  amusements,  there  comes  just  the 
same  round  of  dinners,  dances,  bridge  parties,  and 
similar  reunions  that  is  to  be  noted  everywhere.  Hono- 
lulu boasts  of  its  "intellectual"  set  as  much,  other 
things  being  considered,  as  does  any  cultured  centre, 
and  its  members  have  contributed  to  our  knowledge 


SOCIAL    LIFE  289 

in  a  measure  comparable  with  what  the  learned  societies 
have  done.  The  meetings  of  these  societies  are  a  very 
enjoyable  feature  of  hfe. 

Bachelors,  as  well  as  the  few  "grass  widowers,"  who 
are  not  invited  to  one  of  those  social  functions,  betake 
themselves  to  their  clubs,  which  in  the  evening  present 
a  faint  semblance  of  the  stir  of  the  lunch  hour.  Yet 
it  has  to  be  admitted  that  the  "unattached"  man  has 
rather  a  dreary  time  at  Honolulu  in  the  evenings; 
therefore  it  is  well  for  all  who  contemplate  going  to 
Hawaii  to  remain  permanently  to  provide  themselves 
with  a  partner  who  shall  be  of  assistance  in  contributing 
to  the  success  of  social  hfe. 

A  pleasing,  thoroughly  novel,  and  almost  unique 
variation  from  the  conventional  round  of  evening 
entertainments  is  the  surfing  or  swimming  party  at 
Waikiki  Beach.  This  may  be  prefaced  by  dinner  at  a 
hotel  or  restaurant  near  the  beach  or  in  the -home  of 
the  entertainer;  after  which  all  change  from,  evening 
dress  to  the  comfortable  garb  of  daytime  and  then  go 
to  the  bath-houses  to  don  bathing  suits.  The  moon  is 
just  the  same  Luna  at  Waikiki  as  is  that  gracious  dame 
at  Newport,  Atlantic  City,  or  Palm  Beach,  and  yet 
on  a  bright,  clear  night  of  August,  the  sight  of  the  full 
moon  rising  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  seems  to  be  a  vastly 
different  thing  from  the  same  moonrise  elsewhere. 
The  jolhty  of  a  Waikiki  moonlight  surf  party  is  some- 
thing which  never  fades  from  memory. 

There  are  not  yet  any  good  theatres  in  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii;  and  when  we  think  of  the  present  small 
foreign  communities,   even  at  Honolulu,   this  is  not 


290  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

surprising.  Sometimes  a  travelling  company,  en  route 
to  or  returning  from  the  Orient,  gives  a  performance, 
if  perchance  their  steamer  remains  overnight;  but  it  is 
no  intended  disparagement  to  the  Thespians  to  say 
these  are  not  very  much.  Occasionally  an  amateur 
performance,  resident  talent,  is  given  and  such  is 
always  tremendously  well  patronised,  for  the  members 
of  the  community  are  very  loyal  to  each  other.  The 
Chinese  and  Japanese  theatres  will,  perhaps,  afford 
entertainment  to  the  few  visitors  who  have  not  already 
had  the  pleasure  (?)  of  witnessing  one  of  these  bizarre 
performances  in  some  other  place. 

If  there  are  not  so  many  opportunities  to  hear  good 
professional  music  as  the  foreign  residents  might  Hke, 
it  would  be  altogether  unfair  to  overlook  the  Hawaiian 
Band,  and  now  the  miUtary  bands  at  garrisons  and 
naval  posts.  The  first  mentioned  gives  two  or  three 
concerts  each  week,  always  when  there  is  an  Orient 
mail  steamer  in  port,  in  one  or  another  of  the  pubHc 
parks,  and  these  are  well  worth  hearing.  The  band 
was  organised  in  1874  by  the  master,  Mr.  Berger,  who 
is  still  the  leader.  Some  of  the  best  Hawaiian  vocalists 
are  connected  with  this  band,  and  these  usually  give  a 
number  or  two  of  the  programme.  Many  readers  will 
remember  "The  Hawaiian  Nightingale"  who  charmed 
audiences  in  the  United  States  years  ago;  she  made 
her  debut  under  the  auspices  of  "The  Royal  Hawaiian 
Band,"  as  it  was  then  called. 

Each  reader  will  determine  for  himself  when  social 
and  religious  lines  begin  to  converge  and  at  what  point 
they  intermingle.     It  is   sufficient  to  say  here   that 


SOCIAL     LIFE  291 

every  one  of  the  great  religions  of  the  world  finds  its 
adherents  somewhere  or  other  in  the  archipelago.  The 
leading  place  probably  is  held  by  the  Anglican  ritual 
and  its  immediate  ally,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  But  every  denomina- 
tion of  the  Christian  religion  has  at  least  one  congrega- 
tion, many  of  them  quite  large;  for  the  Hawaiians  are 
now  a  distinctly  religious  people.  As  a  social  function, 
the  Church  Parade,  after  morning  service  at  Honolulu, 
is  far  more  interesting  to  most  visitors  than  is  that  of 
''The  Row,"  London,  or  Unter  den  Linden,  Berlin,  or 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York;  and  Sunday  noon  is  the 
time  to  see  the  society  folk  of  Honolulu  in  their  "best 
bib  and  tucker!" 

Every  visitor  who  remains  for  even  a  few  days  is 
sure  to  be  entertained  at  a  truly  native  feast,  a  lua. 
Only  strictly  native  dishes,  cooked  in  the  ancient  way, 
are  permitted ;  and  the  only  concession  made  to  modern 
palates  will  be  the  beverages.  There  ought  not  to  be, 
properly,  any  tables,  for  the  feast  should  be  laid  on  the 
greensward  or  clean  sand,  and  the  cloth  should  be  fern 
leaves.  Table  cutlery,  spoons,  knives  and  forks,  ought 
to  be  rigidly  eschewed ;  only  it  is  almost  impossible  for 
the  clumsy  haole  to  do  this,  if  he  wishes  to  partake  of 
the  poi.  That  typical  Polynesian  dish  will  now  be 
served  in  individual  bowls,  instead  of  one  great,  com- 
mon calabash  into  which  each  person  dips  his  fingers. 

The  fish,  various  kinds,  are  wrapped  in  aromatic  ti 
leaves  and  baked  in  imu,  underground  ovens;  and 
there  will  be  meats  of  all  kinds,  garnished  and  cooked 
in  the  same  way.     It  is  not  impossible  that  even  a 


292  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

dainty,  poi-ied  puppy  might  be  served,  if  this  special 
dainty  were  insisted  upon.  It  will  be  found  quite  as 
palatable  as  a  sucking-pig!  Raw  fish,  too,  is  entirely 
appropriate;  and  yet  the  delicate  stomach  of  the 
stranger  may  revolt  at  this,  although  he  will  be  perfectly 
willing  to  swallow  half  a  dozen  raw,  live  oysters.  There 
will  be  vegetables,  sweet  potatoes  and  yams,  bread- 
fruit, queer  puddings,  and  curious  sweets. 

The  milk  of  young  cocoanuts  will  be  served;  and 
those  who  like  almost  pure  alcohol  may  regale  them- 
selves with  the  Hawaiian  liquor  distilled  from  sugar 
cane  juice  or  the  sap  of  ti  roots.  Usually,  however, 
mild  punch  or  milder  Honolulu  beer,  that  is  almost 
non-alcoholic,  will  satisfy  everybody.  If  the  stranger  is 
too  much  afraid  of  unfamiliar  food,  he  can  regale  him- 
self with  fruit,  alligator-pears,  bananas,  oranges,  and 
a  dozen  others. 

Such  a  feast  should  always  be  served  at  night,  so 
that  the  scene  may  be  appropriately  Hghted  with 
blazing  torches  in  the  olden  style;  but  if  concession 
has  to  be  made  to  modern  ways,  Chinese  lanterns  may 
be  substituted.  If  electric  lights  have  to  be  tolerated, 
half  the  joy  is  destroyed.  There  will  be  native  musi- 
cians in  attendance  and  their  mournful  music  will 
fairly  captivate,  as  it  flows  softly  out  from  the  sur- 
rounding palms  and  ferns.  There  may  be  a  hula, 
pantomimic  dance,  as  a  grand  finale,  but,  as  has  been 
intimated  already,  this  will  be  so  toned  down  from  the 
realism  of  old  as  not  to  shock  the  most  modest.  The 
end  will  surely  be  the  Aloha-oe,  the  "Farewell  Song" 
of  Queen  Liliuokalani. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 
DEFENCE  OF   THE  ISLANDS 

IT  seems  to  the  ordinary  observer,  one  who  is  alto- 
gether without  technical  training  in  military- 
science,  that  the  absolutely  competent  defence  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii,  against  the  attack  of  an  enemy 
having  a  large  fleet  of  available  Dreadnoughts,  is 
impossible.  The  bold  shores  of  all  the  islands  appear 
to  the  layman  to  permit  of  such  vessels  approaching 
from  any  direction  to  within  easy  striking  distance. 
Hence  it  seems  to  the  civilian  as  if,  to  perfect  the  de- 
fence of  the  archipelago,  each  individual  one  of  its 
eight  greater  units  must  be  made  a  veritable  Gibraltar 
on  all  sides,  not  merely  one. 

The  reefs  that  exist  in  many  places  constitute  no 
effective  military  defence;  because  immediately  off  the 
outer  sides  of  those  barriers  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
pitches  down  so  quickly  as  to  permit  of  warships  coming 
in  to  within  less  than  a  mile  from  the  reef.  With  guns 
that  are  effective  at  ten  miles  —  to  say  nothing  of  the 
fifteen-inch  monsters  that  send  a  fearfully  destructive 
shell  twenty  miles  and  more  —  every  port  in  the  terri- 
tory is  within  easy  range  of  an  attacking  fleet. 

Furthermore,  those  battleships,  constantly  shifting 
their  positions,  would  present  to  the  artillerymen  on 
land  an  extremely  difi&cult  target;  although  the  records 


294  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

made  by  some  of  the  American  gun-captains,  when 
firing  at  moving  targets,  do  tend  to  give  a  little  confi- 
dence to  the  untrained  observer  of  military  defences. 
This,  however,  is  possibly  an  unduly  pessimistic  view  of 
the  matter,  and  it  is  well  to  consider  what  those  have 
to  say  for  the  other  side  who  are  professionally  com- 
petent to  speak  with  authority;  only  it  is  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  being  too  optimistic. 

The  territory  is  now  a  mihtary  department  of  the 
United  States  Army,  under  the  supervision  and  admin- 
istration of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  Western 
Division,  headquarters  San  Francisco.  The  creation 
of  this  department  was  a  wise  move,  permitting  of 
marked  advance  in  the  administration,  especially  in 
the  matter  of  mihtary  justice,  because  of  the  saving  of 
time  in  the  determination  of  court-martial  cases. 

A  definite  pohcy  with  regard  to  the  mihtary  strength 
required  for  the  defence  of  the  islands  has  been  adopted. 
In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  the  First  United  States 
Infantry,  regulars,  arrived  at  Honolulu  in  May,  191 2, 
and  these  troops  were  quartered  in  Schofield  Barracks, 
adjacent  to  the  city.  It  is  intended  to  send  other 
regiments  of  regulars  as  their  services  elsewhere  can  be 
dispensed  with,  and  as  accommodations  for  them  can 
be  provided  at  the  appointed  posts  in  the  territory. 
A  wise  provision  has  been  made  by  the  War  Depart- 
ment for  keeping  each  regiment  to  the  full  authorised 
strength  by  departing  from  the  plan  of  recruiting  each 
regiment  to  the  maximum  at  intervals  of  six  months, 
instead  of  at  irregular  and  frequent  intervals,  as  had 
been  the  ordinary  practice. 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  ISLANDS    295 

During  the  year  ended  June  30,  191 2,  a  new  post, 
Fort  Ruger,  Oahu  Island,  was  established  with  large 
barracks  for  the  enlisted  men  and  comfortable  quarters 
for  the  officers  —  all  of  these  buildings  are  of  concrete. 
At  present,  that  post  is  occupied  by  a  detachment  of 
the  Coast  Artillery,  a  most  important  unit  of  the 
military  defences  of  the  territory.  Fort  Schofield  is 
being  expanded  to  make  it  a  brigade  headquarters, 
with  barracks  and  stables  for  a  cavalry  regiment,  and 
at  least  one  regiment  of  infantry.  The  segregation  of 
units  is  carefully  observed  so  that  instruction,  drills, 
and  all  functions  may  be  provided  in  a  minimum  of 
space,  and  with  the  least  possible  expenditure  of 
labour  in  caring  for  the  premises. 

A  matter  of  great  importance,  from  the  strategist's 
point  of  view,  is  the  complete  military  and  topographi- 
cal survey  of  Oahu  Island  carried  out  by  United  States 
engineers.  This  work  will  be  extended  to  all  the  other 
islands  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Another  matter  which 
is  of  less  technical  advantage  than  what  has  been 
considered,  but  yet  is  something  that  must  exert  an 
excellent  influence  upon  the  ability  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment to  carry  out  its  plans  for  defence,  is  the  sanitary 
arrangements  which  have  been  made,  at  least  in  part, 
at  the  various  posts;  although  something  yet  remains 
to  be  done. 

Having  an  abundance  of  good  water  and  exceptional 
climatic  conditions,  coupled  with  all  hygienic  precau- 
tions that  were  practicable,  the  general  health  of  the 
troops  has  been  remarkably  good,  and  no  cases  of 
serious  infectious  diseases  have  occurred.     But  over- 


296  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

confidence  in  what  has  been  the  experience  in  the  recent 
past  has  not  led  to  indifference  for  the  future,  and  the 
size  of  the  Base  Hospital,  the  principal  military  estab- 
Hshment  of  its  kind,  at  Fort  Shafter,  has  been  increased 
until  it  has  a  capacity  for  three  hundred  and  sixty 
beds,  with  the  complement  of  physicians,  nurses, 
attendants,  and  equipment  necessary  to  provide  the 
best  possible  service  in  peace  or  war. 

Yet  the  strange  inconsistency,  which  so  often  ap- 
pears in  all  things  human,  asserts  itself  in  just  this 
matter.  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated 
December  2,  1912,  states  that  in  spite  of  the  salubrious 
and  temperate  cHmate,  and  the  absence  of  the  more 
serious  epidemic  diseases,  the  noneffective,  admission, 
and  discharge  rates  were  higher  amongst  the  troops  in 
Hawaii  than  for  those  in  the  United  States  proper. 
The  average  number  of  days'  treatment  for  each  case 
was  15.04  days,  as  compared  with  12.91  for  the  conti- 
nental army.  The  death  rate  was,  however,  lower. 
The  noneffective  and  admission  rates  (enhsted  strength) 
were  44.52  and  1080.49  fo'*  each  one  thousand,  as 
compared  with  49.88  and  1009.84  for  1910.  The 
discharge  and  death  rates  were  13.90  and  2.98,  as  com- 
pared with  17.4  and  2.45  in  1 910.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  the  noneffective  and  discharge  rates  were  lower  in 
191 1  than  in  19 10,  while  the  admission  and  death  rates 
were  a  Little  higher.  This  information  tends  to  show 
that  there  is  practically  nothing  unusual  in  climatic 
and  sanitary  conditions  to  render  the  military  defence 
of  the  territory  difficult. 

At  present  there  is  only  one  island  of  the  group  pro- 


DEFENCE     OF     THE     ISLANDS  297 

vided  with  regular  army  garrisons,  Oahu,  on  which  is 
the  capital,  Honolulu.  There  are  now  four  posts  at 
least  partly  garrisoned.  These  are  Schofield  Barracks, 
Fort  Shafter,  Fort  Ruger,  and  Fort  De  Russy,  all  near 
Honolulu;  and  we  may  add  the  Fort  Armstrong 
Military  Reservation,  whose  efficient  use  has  not  yet 
been  determined.  At  the  first  of  these,  where  a  regi- 
ment of  cavalry,  two  battalions  of  infantry,  and  three 
battalions  of  field  artillery  are  stationed,  the  barracks 
and  quarters  are  temporary  wooden  structures,  as  are 
those  at  the  other  posts,  with  the  exception  mentioned. 
Fort  Shafter,  the  old  military  post  of  pre-annexation 
days,  is  garrisoned  by  one  battalion  of  Infantry.  The 
mean  enHsted  strength  of  the  entire  garrisons  for  the 
year  covered  by  the  Secretary  of  War's  report  was 
3931  enlisted  men  and  198  officers.  Of  officers  and 
men,  there  were:  at  Headquarters,  Honolulu,  7; 
Schofield  Barracks,  3281;  Fort  Shafter,  430;  Fort 
Ruger,  247;   Fort  De  Russy,  164. 

The  National  Guard  of  Hawaii  consists  of  nine 
companies  and  a  band.  Of  this  territorial  militia,  six 
companies  and  the  band  are  at  Honolulu,  and  one 
company  each  at  Hilo,  Hawaii  Island,  and  at  Wailuku 
and  Lahaina,  Maui  Island.  The  total  of  officers  and 
enhsted  men  is  only  562.  These  are  of  various  races, 
chiefly  Hawaiians,  365,  and  Portuguese,  iii.  The 
total  is  not  great,  but  it  compares  favourably  with 
conditions  in  the  United  States  proper,  when  volume 
and  character  of  population  likely  to  contribute  to 
such  an  organisation  are  considered. 

A  suitable  armoury  at  Honolulu  for  this  Guard  has 


298  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

been  provided  for  by  the  territorial  legislature,  upon  a 
portion  of  the  Barracks  Lot  Military  Reservation,  taken 
over  by  the  United  States  government  for  miUtary 
purposes,  but  restored  to  the  territory  with  this  specific 
purpose  in  view.  Proximity  to  the  regular  army  head- 
quarters will  work  for  the  good  of  the  mihtia.  The 
United  States  War  Department  has  been  active  in  de- 
taiHng  regular  army  officers  as  instructors.  Camps  for 
instruction  were  held  from  September  5  to  October  14, 
1 911;  a  school  for  officers  was  conducted  by  the  in- 
spector-instructor, a  captain  in  the  regular  army,  from 
November  2,  191 1  to  April  4,  191 2,  and  on  December 
31,  191 1,  the  Guard  officers  took  part  with  a  battahon 
of  United  States  Marines  in  field  manoeuvres. 

The  advantages  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  a  naval 
base  have  been  generally  known  and  appreciated  by 
seafaring  men,  merchant  sailors,  whalers,  and  naval 
officers  ever  since  the  days  of  Captain  Cook,  and  there 
had  been,  as  is  shown  in  these  pages,  several  attempts 
made  to  secure  the  prize  before  it  fell  peacefully  into 
the  hands  of  the  United  States.  It  was  not  until  1877, 
however,  that  the  American  government  gave  serious 
thought  to  Hawaii's  advantages,  and  in  that  year  Pearl 
Harbour,  six  miles  west  of  Honolulu  and  on  the  coast, 
was.  ceded  to  the  United  States.  With  annexation, 
what  had  been  confessed  to  be  a  possibility,  became 
something  very  real.  Pearl  Harbour  will  undoubtedly 
be  the  rendezvous  of  the  United  States  Fleet  in  Pacific 
waters,  superseding  in  importance,  if  not  supplanting 
entirely,  Mare  Island  Navy  Yard,  near  San  Francisco, 
and  that  on  Puget  Sound,  Washington.     Its  impor- 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  ISLANDS    299 

tance  is  likely  to  increase  much  and  rapidly  if  the 
opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  brings  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise  that  undertaking  has  held  out,  and  the 
stream  of  steamers  going  east  and  west  across  the 
Pacific  demands  the  presence  of  naval  vessels  to  render 
needed  assistance  in  the  way  of  rescue  and  salvage  in 
peace,  and  protection  during  war,  should  events  of  the 
future  make  this  necessary. 

In  spite  of  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  Congress  to  be  somewhat  parsimonious  in  the 
matter  of  granting  appropriations  for  naval  expansion, 
that  body  has  been  fairly  liberal  in  providing  financial 
means  for  the  development  of  Pearl  Harbour  along  the 
Hnes  recommended  by  naval  experts,  and  the  equip- 
ment of  the  yard  and  station  there.  A  channel  four 
and  one-half  miles  in  length  has  been  dredged  from  the 
sea,  across  the  bar  and  coral  reef,  to  the  yard  site. 
The  depth  is  thirty-five  feet  throughout;  the  width 
through  the  bar  is  six  hundred  feet,  and  after  that  the 
mean  width  is  five  hundred  feet.  If  vessels  do  not 
continue  to  increase  in  tonnage  and  their  draught  of 
water,  this  channel  will  permit  the  largest  vessels, 
warships,  or  merchantmen  that  are  at  all  Hkely  to  visit 
this  port  to  enter,  and  there  are  provided  ample  pier 
facilities  in  the  East  and  West  Lochs  for  all  necessary 
discharge  and  loading.  This  last,  it  will  of  course  be 
understood,  relates  to  naval  stores  and  supplies  for  the 
Navy  Yard  itself  as  well  as  the  naval  vessels  which  may 
fit  out,  replenish,  or  coal  there.  It  is  understood, 
naturally,  that  Pearl  Harbour  is  not  to  compete  in  any 
way  with  Honolulu  as  a  commercial  centre. 


300  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

The  first  large  vessel  to  pass  through  the  dredged 
channel  and  enter  the  Navy  Yard  was,  not  inappro- 
priately, the  United  States  battleship  California,  flag- 
ship of  the  Pacific  Fleet.  The  length  of  the  dry  dock 
has  been  extended  from  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  as 
originally  contemplated,  to  one  thousand  feet,  with 
width  and  depth  on  the  sills  at  mean  high  water  suffi- 
cient to  permit  the  largest  battleships  to  enter.  If  no 
disaster  prevents,  this  dock  will  be  completed  by  June, 
1 91 5  and  it  will  be  the  largest  one  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States;  there  will  be  nothing  to  equal  it  in  all 
the  Americas.  This  information  is  not  at  all  prophetic. 
Inasmuch  as  the  estimates  for  dimensions  of  the  locks 
of  the  Panama  Canal  have  already  been  exceeded  by 
vessels  now  afloat,  or  which  will  be  ready  for  launching 
before  that  canal  is  actually  ready  to  attend  to  all 
business  which  may  offer,  it  is  not  impossible  that  the 
dimensions  of  the  Pearl  Harbour  dry  dock  may  prove 
inadequate  within  not  many  years. 

In  all  the  details  of  buildings,  shops,  storehouses, 
offices,  barracks,  and  residences,  the  plans  contemplate 
an  equipment  ample  to  meet  all  demands,  as  well  as  to 
provide  for  every  probable  expansion,  even  if  Pearl 
Harbour  is  made  the  sole  headquarters  of  a  greatly 
increased  Pacific  fleet.  With  this  base  to  fall  back 
upon  and  with  whatever  harbour  facilities  the  rest  of 
the  archipelago  may  be  able  to  supply,  the  naval  de- 
fence of  the  territory  seems  to  be  provided  for  as  well 
as  it  can  be  done.  Whether  it  is  or  is  to  be  entirely 
adequate,  is  just  one  of  those  problems  which  come 
within  the  wide  range  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  famous 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  ISLANDS    301 

aphorism:  "Providence  is  on  the  side  of  the  largest 
legions." 

Assuming  that  the  United  States  goes  to  war  with 
another  great  naval  power,  one  which  feels  its  "sphere 
of  influence"  to  be  the  entire  Pacific  Ocean,  the  defence 
and,  indeed,  the  ability  to  retain  possession  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  will  depend  entirely  upon  the  number 
of  battleships  that  can  be  assembled  in  territorial 
waters,  without  leaving  the  Pacific  Coast  states  insufiS- 
ciently  protected.  The  number  and  effectiveness  (as 
to  batteries)  of  those  vessels  must  be  fully  equal  to,  if 
not  greater  than,  the  same  factors  of  the  fleet  which 
may  come  to  the  attack. 

Naturally,  then,  there  come  to  the  mind  only  three 
Great  Powers:  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  Japan. 
It  is  reasonably  safe  to  say  that  all  human  probabilities 
are  strongly  against  the  first  named  being  the  aggressor; 
and  even  if  she  were,  she  would  have  to  increase  her 
fleet  of  battleships  in  the  Pacific  very  much  before 
being  in  fit  condition  to  attack  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
If  the  Panama  Canal  is  ready  to  permit  American 
warships  to  pass  through,  and  this  facility  is  denied  to 
British  vessels  during  actual  belligerency,  it  is  manifest 
that  a  strong  fleet  of  men-of-war  could  be  assembled 
in  the  territory's  waters  before  Great  Britain  could 
send  an  equal  number  through  the  Suez  Canal. 

But  for  such  a  purpose  as  the  conquest  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands,  it  would  not  be  sufiicient  for  Great 
Britain  to  be  merely  a  match  for  the  United  States, 
because  her  base  of  supplies  and  dock  facilities  would 
be  farther  away  from  the  battlefield:   Hongkong  being 


302  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

the  only  practicable  naval  station  for  a  British  fleet  in 
such  a  contingency  as  a  war  with  the  United  States, 
and  Hawaii  an  important  objective.  At  least  it  seems 
to  the  layman  quite  impossible  that  Great  Britain 
could  advantageously  make  use  of  any  of  her  nearer 
possessions  for  such  a  purpose.  What  little  could  be 
done  by  or  at  Esquimault,  the  dockyard  on  Vancouver 
Island,  British  Columbia,  is  almost  negligible.  Besides, 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  would  probably  find  all  its 
resources  strained  to  the  utmost  to  defend  its  own 
integrity.  Let  us  thank  God  that  the  possibihty  of 
an  Anglo-American  war  is  not  to  be  seriously  considered. 

As  for  Germany,  it  is  again  most  improbable  that 
armed  hostilities  between  her  and  the  United  States 
can  take  place.  The  chances  are  much  greater  for  a 
bitter  commercial  war,  in  which  battleships  and  armed 
cohorts  will  play  no  part  at  all;  but  with  advantages, 
at  first,  certainly,  on  the  American  side.  Yet,  admit- 
ting the  possibihty  of  belligerency,  Germany  is  quite  as 
unfavourably  circumstanced  in  the  Pacific  as  is  Great 
Britain,  probably  more  so,  for  there  would  be  no  con- 
venient coaHng-ports  on  the  long  voyage  from  the 
Baltic  to  Pacific  waters  at  her  disposal.  The  condi- 
tions of  supplies  and  naval  base  are  quite  as  bad  for 
Germany  as  for  Great  Britain,  because  Kiaochau,  on 
Shantung  Peninsula,  China,  is  not  to  be  compared 
with  Hongkong  even. 

There  remains,  then,  Japan.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  Mikado's  Government  would  like  very  much 
to  expand  their  sovereign's  realm  by  acquiring  both 
the   Hawaiian   Islands   and   the   Phihppines.     In   the 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  ISLANDS    303 

event  of  war,  it  is  admitted,  even  by  American  army 
and  navy  officers,  that  the  conquest  of  the  latter  would 
be  an  easy  matter  for  the  Japanese  navy  and  army, 
inasmuch  as  troops  could  literally  be  poured  into  the 
archipelago  far  more  rapidly  and  in  much  larger  num- 
bers than  the  United  States  could  do,  while  the  re- 
sources of  the  islands  to  prevent  this  invasion  are 
confessedly  inadequate  and  cannot  be  made  sufficient 
without  an  expenditure  of  money  and  certain  loss  of 
valuable  lives,  which  are  absolutely  unjustifiable.  It 
would  be  a  case  of  the  first  blow  settling  the  fight;  and 
the  heavy  blow  which  Japan  could  strike  would  prob- 
ably effect  the  conquest  of  the  PhiHppines  immediately : 
abihty  to  retain  possession  is  quite  a  different  matter. 

Conditions  are  much  nearer  being  equal  at  Hawaii. 
The  Atlantic  seacoast  of  the  United  States  could  be 
left  almost  wholly  without  protection  from  warships,  and 
naval  strength  concentrated  upon  the  Pacific  shores  and 
at  Hawaii.  Inasmuch  as  such  a  war  would  probably 
not  come  with  all  the  suddenness  of  "a  bolt  from  the 
blue,"  there  would  probably  be  ample  time  to  con- 
centrate in  territorial  waters  (still  providing  sufficiently 
for  the  protection  of  the  CaUfornia,  Oregon,  and  Wash- 
ington coasts)  more  effective  battleships  and  cruisers 
than  Japan  could  possibly  send  there;  it  being  again 
assumed  that  the  Panama  Canal  is  fully  prepared  to 
permit  such  vessels  to  pass  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific 
waters  without  delay. 

But  in  the  case  of  war  with  Japan,  probably  more 
than  in  that  of  the  other  two  which  have  been  con- 
sidered, comes  the  necessity  for  contemplating  seriously 


304  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

possible  disaster  to  the  walls,  locks,  and  complicated 
machinery  of  the  Panama  Canal.  That  Japan  could 
in  some  marvellous  way  so  replenish  her  war  chest  and 
rehabilitate  her  credit  with  thqse  nations  whose  peoples 
have  money  to  lend  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  war,  is 
at  least  problematical.  Assuming  that  this  could  be 
done  and  further  that  there  is  a  serious  desire  for  war 
with  the  United  States,  there  would  certainly  be  an 
extra  couple  of  million  yefi  or  so  to  spare  for  hiring  some 
miscreants  to  smuggle  into  the  Canal  Zone  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  explosives  to  put  at  least  one  of  the  locks 
out  of  working  order,  and  that  is  all  which  would  be 
necessary.  The  Panama  Canal  illustrates  with  peculiar 
force  the  adage  that  a  chain  is  as  strong  only  as  its 
weakest  link.  It  would  not  be  absolutely  requisite  to 
blow  up  one  of  the  gates  to  a  Gatun  Lock,  any  one  of 
the  others  would  accomplish  the  dastardly  purpose 
equally  as  well,  and  that  done  there  would  be  Kttle 
hope  of  massing  at  Hawaii  a  fleet  of  size  sufficient  to 
meet  what  Japan  could  send  there.  If  the  conquest  of 
the  territory  were  one  that  depended  seriously  upon 
armies,  it  is  probable  that  the  advantage  would  be 
entirely  with  Japan.  Her  actual  army  on  a  peace 
footing  is  always  greater  than  that  of  the  United  States, 
and  her  first  and  second  reserves  constitute  a  trained 
addition  which  is  always  promptly  available.  The 
needed  transports  are  always  at  hand  in  the  subsidised 
steamers  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  the  Toyo  Kisen 
Kaisha,  and  other  fines  operating  large  steamers  trading 
to  over-seas  ports. 

The  probabifity  of  Japan's  seeking  an  excuse  to  go 


DEFENCE     OF     THE     ISLANDS  305 

to  war  with  the  United  States  is  much  less  now  than  it 
was  a  few  years  ago,  before  the  flush  of  mistaken  victory 
in  the  encounter  with  Russia  had  faded  away.  The 
chances  of  her  doing  so  diminish  with  each  year.  There 
are  a  number  of  reasons  for  this:  the  two  foreign  wars 
which  modern  Japan  has  waged  did  not  really  arouse 
much  apprehension  in  America  and  Europe.  So  far  as 
the  Russo-Japanese  conflict  is  concerned,  this  opinion 
may  be  challenged;  yet  the  evidence  of  nine  or  ten 
years  ago  was  then  strongly  in  support  of  it.  An 
attack  upon  the  United  States,  unless  for  provocation 
by  this  country  that  is  virtually  inconceivable  and 
would  scarcely  be  comprehended  by  the  other  Great 
Powers,  would  be  hkely  to  array  all  Christendom 
morally  against  Japan,  Her  statesmen  and  pubhcists 
realise  this  fully  and  while  there  has  been  much  bluster, 
it  will  have  been  noticed  that  the  wiser  ones  have 
deprecated  any  precipitancy.  Another  reason  is  that, 
more  and  more,  the  common  people  of  Japan  are  coming 
to  understand  what  a  foreign  war  means  to  them;  that 
upon  them  falls  the  expense  in  Uves  and  money,  and  they 
are  likely  to  resent  any  effort  to  start  a  third.  A  third 
reason,  and  probably  the  most  cogent  one,  is  financial 
inabihty.  Recent  statements  by  the  fiscal  bureau  of 
the  Japanese  government  show  with  alarming  distinct- 
ness that  she  must  exert  herself  to  the  utmost  to  meet 
obligations  to  foreign  creditors  which  fall  due  within 
the  next  decade;  and  that  to  add  to  her  burden  would 
be  suicidal.  Last  of  all  is  that  growing  sentiment 
throughout  the  world  which  is  making  for  true  peace; 
in  this,  the  Japanese  people  share.     All  things  con- 


3o6  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

sidered,  it  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  there  is  little 
likelihood  of  a  Japanese  attack  upon  Hawaii.  The 
sensational  stories  of  Japanese  soldiers  settling  in  the 
territory  with  evil  intent,  that  there  is  a  determination 
amongst  the  Japanese  to  accomplish  the  ousting  of 
American  government,  and  a  dozen  other  wdld  canards 
are  not  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  But,  say  the 
militarists,  "in  time  of  peace  prepare  for  war!"  The 
logic  is  not  admitted. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
THE  COMING  HAWAII 

INASMUCH  as  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  entirely 
without  the  minerals  which  carry  metals  that  are 
employed  in  the  useful  or  aesthetic  arts,  its  value,  both 
real  and  prospective,  Kes  in  its  capacity  for  contributing 
to  the  world's  supply  of  agricultural  products.  It  has 
already  been  shown  in  these  pages  that  this  capacity 
is  of  considerable  importance  at  the  present  time,  and 
susceptible  of  large  expansion.  How  this  valuable 
resource  shall  be  developed  is  undoubtedly  the  basis 
upon  which  to  build  a  forecast  as  to  what  is  to  be  the 
Coming  Hawaii. 

It  is  especially  desirable  that  the  population  of  the 
islands  shall  be  increased  by  the  immigration  of  those 
who  are  in  every  way  capable  to  be,  not  altogether 
become,  useful  and  contributing  citizens.  With  this 
definite  object  in  view,  every  effort  is  being  made  to 
induce  people  of  the  farming  and  stock-raising  classes 
of  the  United  States'  mainland  to  come  to  the  territory 
and  make  their  permanent  homes  in  Hawaii.  It  is 
sad,  from  a  certain  viewpoint,  that  success  in  this 
endeavour  means  the  displacement  of  the  native 
Hawaiians,  but  the  stern  and  unyielding  demands  of 
this  practical  age  make  this  inevitable.  The  true 
Hawaiian  has  been  tried  in  many  ways  and  has  been 


3o8  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

found  wanting.  Either  because  of  physical  inability 
to  meet  the  requirements,  or  from  moral  unwillingness 
to  give  up  the  easy  ways  of  Hfe  to  which  he  is  accus- 
tomed, as  a  labourer  he  has  been  proved  to  be  entirely 
insufficient.  If  Hawaii  is  to  be  the  important  agricul- 
tural factor  in  the  world's  economy  that  she  is  in  so 
many  ways  fitted  to  be,  it  must  be  with  the  aid  of  others 
than  the  true  Hawaiians. 

No  assistance  is  given  the  solicited  settlers  in  paying 
their  fares,  or  rendering  any  other  pecuniary  aid;  yet 
they  are  encouraged  in  every  way  through  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Lands,  the  Departments  of  Immigra- 
tion, Labour,  and  Statistics,  the  Hawaii  Promotion 
Committee,  the  Honolulu  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
other  cognate  channels.  In  the  report  of  the  Governor 
of  the  territory,  dated  September  5,  191 2,  it  was  stated 
that  the  two  years  ended  June  30,  191 2  had  been  the 
most  encouraging  in  the  arrivals,  not  only  of  tourists, 
but  of  those  who  came  with  the  firm  determination  to 
become  permanent  settlers,  most  of  them  agricultur- 
alists. It  is  impracticable,  if  it  is  not  impossible,  to 
keep  accurate  records  of  the  personaHty  and  aims  of 
these  settlers,  but  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  pur- 
chase of  residence  lots,  the  erection  of  dwellings  and 
their  types,  and  the  taking  up  of  homesteads  gives 
satisfactory  assurance  that  this  desirable  element  of 
population  is  increasing:  perhaps  not  with  remarkable 
rapidity,  yet  with  an  indication  of  permanence  which 
must  be  extremely  gratifying  to  the  local  authorities 
and  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  economic  and  social 
progress  of  the  territory. 


£    < 


THE     COMING     HAWAII  309 

Within  the  past  few  years  two  communities  of  white 
settlers  have  been  established  in  the  territory:  one  on 
the  island  of  Maui,  the  other  on  Kauai.  These  people 
came  in  part  from  the  United  States,  while  some  of 
them  were  drawn  from  amongst  the  older  residents 
of  Oahu  Island,  particularly  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Honolulu.  The  Maui  community  will  give  its  atten- 
tion almost  exclusively  to  the  cultivation  of  pineapples, 
the  locality  which  has  been  selected  being  exceptionally 
adapted  to  the  growing  of  this  fruit;  and  there  is, 
besides,  a  canning  factory  already  in  operation  with  an 
estabhshed  trade,  which  has  undertaken  to  purchase 
all  the  pineapples  at  prices  which  ensure  a  reasonable 
profit.  The  Kauai  settlement  will  probably  devote 
its  energies  to  the  more  practical  and  immediately 
useful,  but  scarcely  less  profitable,  specialty  of  raising 
vegetables  and  farm  products  generally.  There  are 
numerous  other  locaKties  where  similar  enterprises 
may  be  successfully  carried  on,  and  application  to 
any  one  of  the  channels  which  have  been  named  will 
promptly  elicit  all  needed  information.  It  is  to  just 
such  settlements  as  these  that  the  Coming  Hawaii  is 
more  likely  to  be  indebted  for  its  best  development  than 
to  the  great  sugar,  coffee,  and  rice  plantations.  These 
last  mentioned  must  inevitably  illustrate  the  soulless- 
ness  of  corporations. 

Until  the  foreign  population  has  greatly  exceeded 
the  present  numbers,  it  is  impossible  to  look  for  much 
importance  in  the  domestic  distributing  trade  of 
Hawaii,  because  the  imports  will  be  restricted  in  char- 
acter and  volume  to  such  articles  as  are  needed  to  sup- 


3IO  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

ply  the  requirements  of  those  people  who  wish  certain 
things  which  cannot  be  procured  or  manufactured  in 
the  islands.  These  will,  of  course,  be  largely  supple- 
mented by  the  importation  of  artificial  fertilisers,  to  be 
used  principally  on  the  sugar  plantations,  until  their 
preparation  has  become  an  estabHshed  local  industry. 
Machinery  will  certainly  be  of  considerable  importance 
in  the  schedule  of  imports,  until  the  home  estabhsh- 
ments  are  prepared  to  supply  all  the  territory  needs. 
This  demand  must  show  great  development  if  the 
success  that  is  reasonably  expected  in  coffee  planting, 
sisal  growing,  and  other  branches  is  realised. 

But  all  these  factors  duly  considered,  it  is  to  the 
export  trade  that  we  must  look  for  that  which  will 
contribute  to  the  greatest  development  of  the  territory. 
This  inevitably  fixes  the  attention  upon  the  sugar 
industry,  while  collaterally  therewith  will  come,  it  is 
contended  by  all  competent  observers,  the  expansion 
of  the  rubber,  coffee,  fruits,  fibres,  and  other  valuable 
agricultural  products.  As  the  value  of  the  exports  has 
increased  from  about  thirty-one  million  dollars  in  1901 
to  nearly  eighty-five  milhon  dollars  in  191 2,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  assume  that  a  parallel  development  will 
continue,  since  the  markets  to  consume  these  products 
are  expanding  rather  than  contracting. 

Every  year  greater  attention  is  being  given  to  the 
agricultural  output  of  Hawaii,  and  experiments  with 
hitherto  untried  crops  or  the  expansion  in  acreage  out- 
put of  what  is  reckoned  as  estabHshed  are  less  likely  to 
be  so  purely  tentative  as  to  be  of  doubtful  value.  While 
the  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  continue  actively 


THE     COMING     HAWAII  311 

to  prosecute  investigations  with  all  untried  food  and 
economic  plants  which  may  possibly  be  introduced, 
domesticated,  and  cultivated  profitably,  yet  now  that 
a  fairly  full  assortment  of  such  crops  has  been  deter- 
mined, attention  is  rather  concentrated  upon  improve- 
ments in  methods  in  order  to  secure  maximum  results, 
the  treatment  of  the  crop,  and  its  utihsation  when 
harvested. 

Admitting,  then,  that  very  much  of  what  the  Coming 
Hawaii  is  to  be  depends  upon  success  in  agricultural 
development,  and  inasmuch  as  the  desired  settlers  are 
to  have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  that  development,  the 
prospects  that  Hawaii  holds  forth  to  such  people  is 
manifestly  a  most  important  matter.  It  is  well,  there- 
fore, to  give  some  consideration  to  the  methods  by  which 
the  intending  settler  may  secure  a  homestead  on  the 
public  lands.  There  are  now  about  one  and  one-half 
million  acres  of  these  lands,  but  large  areas  are  included 
within  forest  reserves,  while  a  good  deal  of  the  land  is 
too  high,  or  too  precipitous,  rocky,  or  dry  to  be  profit- 
ably cultivated.  There  are,  however,  several  hundred 
thousand  acres  which  are  even  now  available  for  home- 
steads, although  a  part  must  be  supplied  with  water 
for  artificial  irrigation  to  render  its  cultivation  profita- 
ble, and  we  may  say  that  all  of  it  should  be  furnished 
with  this  well-nigh  indispensable  accessory  to  make  it 
entirely  satisfactory  for  homesteads. 

These  public  lands  are  usually  leased  until  they  are 
called  for  by  intending  settlers.  The  rental  ranges 
from  practically  nothing  up  to  as  much  as  ten  dollars 
per  acre  for  one  year.     If  they  were  sold  outright,  the 


312  THE     COMING     HAWAII 

value  in  fee-simple  would  again  run  from  almost  nothing 
up  to  several  hundred  dollars  per  acre.  But  when  they 
are  taken  up  by  bo7ia  fide  homesteaders,  they  are 
usually  sold  at  comparatively  low  prices,  say  from  one 
dollar  per  acre  to  as  much  as  seventy-five  dollars  per 
acre,  according  to  locaUty,  quahty  and  character  of 
soil,  adaptabihty  for  irrigation  and  access  to  water, 
and  other  considerations  which  appeal  to  the  agricul- 
turahst  or  stockman.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the 
ordinary  homestead  laws  which  relate  to  public  lands 
in  our  Western  States,  a  small  cash  payment  and  then 
securing  patent  by  continuous  residence  and  improve- 
ment, have  not  been  made  appHcable  to  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii. 

Five  methods  for  securing  a  homestead  are  provided : 
Special  Homestead  Agreement;  Right  of  Purchase 
Lease;  Cash  Freehold  Agreement;  Settlement  Associa- 
tion; Homestead  Lease.  By  the  first,  the  homesteader 
pays  the  fixed  price  of  the  land  in  ten  annual  payments : 
five  per  cent  in  cash;  five  per  cent  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year;  and  then  ten  per  cent  each  year  thereafter. 
No  interest  is  charged  on  the  deferred  payments.  The 
privilege  of  anticipating  any  one  payment  or  of  making 
a  total  payment  at  any  time  is  granted.  The  settler  is 
allowed  to  do  anything  he  Hkes  for  three  years  after 
the  land  has  been  allotted  to  him,  in  order  to  obtain 
necessary  support  for  himself  and  family,  while  getting 
his  farm  into  such  a  cultivable  condition  as  will  yield 
him  a  living.  At  the  expiration  of  three  years,  he  must 
take  up  residence  and  continue  this  for  five  years,  at 
least  in  periods  of  six  months'  duration.     Conditions 


THE     COMING    HAWAII  313 

imposed  as  to  cultivation  are  entirely  reasonable,  and 
after  five  years,  those  conditions  having  been  fulfilled, 
he  receives  a  patent.  A  wise  provision  is  made  for 
timber  culture. 

By  the  second  plan,  the  settler  is  given  a  lease  for 
twenty-five  years,  at  an  annual  rental  of  eight  per  cent 
of  the  price.  He  has  the  privilege  of  purchase  at  any 
time  after  three  years,  provided  he  has  compHed  with 
the  easy  conditions  of  residence,  cultivation,  and  tree- 
planting.  By  the  third  plan,  the  homesteader  pays 
one-fourth  of  the  price  in  cash,  and  the  balance  in 
equal  instalments  in  one,  two,  and  three  years,  with 
interest  on  the  deferred  payments  at  six  per  cent  a 
year;  he  has  the  privilege  of  earlier  payments  at  his 
own  pleasure.  Conditions  as  to  cultivation  and  timber 
culture  are  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  preceding 
cases  and  are  entirely  reasonable. 

By  the  fourth  plan,  six  or  more  persons  may  consti- 
tute themselves  a  settlement  colony  and  acquire  title 
in  any  one  of  the  first  three  ways.  The  special  object 
of  this  plan  is  to  encourage  American  settlers,  by  giving 
them  an  opportunity  to  form  congenial  communities. 
By  the  fifth  plan,  the  homesteader  receives  a  certificate 
of  occupation  upon  payment  of  a  fee  of  two  dollars. 
At  the  end  of  six  years,  having  fulfilled  easy  conditions 
as  to  residence,  cultivation,  tree-planting,  etc.,  he  is 
given  a  lease  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years 
without  rental;  for  this  document  he  pays  a  fee  of  five 
dollars.  He  acquires  no  title,  cannot  transfer  the 
land,  and  the  property  is  exempt  from  levy  upon  execu- 
tion.    This  is  really  a  generous  scheme  for  providing  a 


314  THE     COMING    HAWAII 

settler  and  his  descendants  with  a  home  for  nothing. 
In  the  enjoyment  of  this  home,  they  are  secured  both 
as  against  their  own  acts  and  against  legal  process  so 
long  as  they  use  the  land  as  a  home.* 

Briefly  summed  up,  it  may  truthfully  be  said  that 
the  future  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  is  bright  with 
promise. 

*  See  a  pamphlet,  entitled  Hawaii:  Its  Agricultural  Possibilities, 
issued  by  the  Hawaii  Promotion  Committee. 


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INDEX 


INDEX 


Action  of  Nobles,  Kamehameha 
II's  death,  37 

Agricultural  capacity,  194 

Agriculture,  native,  188,  310 

Akea,  region  of  darkness,  150 

"All  Red  Route,"  103 

Allusions  to  strange  countries  in 
folklore,  141 

Alum,  205 

Amusements,  fondness  for,  142 

Ancestry,  by  place-names,  266 

Ancient  religion,  66 

Annexation,  Paulet's  repudiated, 
43)  by  U.  S.,  9,  95;  opinions 
about,  96 

Apprehension  of  American  states- 
men, 103 

Approach  to  islands,  163 

Aptitude  in  book-learning,  139 

Arborescent  flora,  165 

Assistance,  to  Christian  propa- 
ganda, 48;  to  settlers,  308 

Attack  upon  Hawaii,  possible,  301 

Attendance  at  school  compulsory, 
"3 

Bananas,  190 

Beaches,  279 

Becerra,  Diego  de,  navigator,  10 

Beetles,  185 

Benefit  to  U.  S.,  109 

Bill  of  Rights,  42 

Bird  Island,  134 

Birds,  180 

Birth,  rites,  143 


Blount,  J.  H.,  report,  92 

Bonded  indebtedness,  114 

Boston,  episode,  92 

Botanist,  work  for,  175 

Boxing,  273 

British    views    upon    annexation, 

lOI 

Bubonic  plague,  119 

Canadians'  dissatisfaction  with 
annexation,  104 

Canoes,  ancient,  6 

Cattle,  horned,  178 

"Centaur  of  Hawaii,"  151 

Ceremonies  at  Kamehameha  II's 
funeral,  38 

Cession,  of  building  sites  to  British 
Government,  40;  of  Kingdom  to 
Great  Britain,  alleged,  40;  of 
Pearl  Harbour,  45 

Chiefs'  deportment,  60 

Chinese,  214;  name  for  Hawaii, 
167;  merchants,  216;  native 
wives  of,  217;  culture,  influence 
of,  220;  labourers,  220,  now 
excluded,  221,  number  decreas- 
ing, 222;  tradesmen,  223;  as 
house-servants,  223 

Christian  missionaries,  29;  their 
increasing  importance,  37 

Christianity,  interest  in,  30 

Church  of  England,  105 

"Church  Parade,"  291 

Citizenship,  73 

Gierke,  Capt.,  pacifies  natives,  19 


324 


INDEX 


Cleveland,  Pres.,  prevents  annexa- 
tion, 92 

Clubs,  286 

Coastwise  trade,  U.  S.,  116 

Coffee,  198 

College  of  Hawaii,  114 

Colonisation,  success,  120 

Comfort  in  visiting  volcanoes,  243 

Common  people,  former  condition, 
60 

Communities  of  white  settlers,  309 

Composition  of  first  American 
mission,  50 

Compulsory  education,  112 

Condition  prior  to  Cook's  visit,  20 

Congressional  delegate,  99 

Constitution,  43 

Cook,  Capt.,  on  native  agriculture, 
189 

Cook's  death,  14;  cause  of,  15; 
Hawaiian  account,  16;  influence 
in  America  and  Europe,  29; 
treatment  of  remains,  17;  his 
vanity,  15 

Cook's  men,  fanciful  description  of, 
156 

"Coral  Islands,"  Hawaii,  12 

Cotton,  195,  199 

Counties,  in 

Creation  myths,  68 

Damien,  Father,  130 

Dams,  ceremonies  at  building,  210 

Dances,  272 

Death,  rites,  143 

Deer,  not  indigenous,  185 

Defence  of  islands,  293 

Degeneracy,  85 

Deities,  69 

Despotism,  ancient,  59 


Destruction  of  idols,  53 
Destructive  insects,  183 
Detached  rocks,  134 
Diamond  Head,  132 
Dicotyledons,  165 
Domestic  trade,  309 
Doubtful  morality,  142 
Dress,  63 
Dwellings,  142 

Earliest  European  visitors,  10, 12 
Education,    of    king     and     royal 

family,  39;    rapid,  58;    present, 

109 
Effect  of  European  civilisation,  136 
Efforts,  of  ancient  rulers  to  keep 

peace,  21;   to  change  laws,  39 
Emma,  Queen,  her  opposition  to 

Kalakaua,  45;  personality,  87, 89 
Emotional  character,  139 
English  missionaries,  57 
Ethnical  aflinities,  136 
Etymology  of  geographical  names, 

267 
Exotic  plants,  174 
Expense  of  public  instruction,  in, 

113 
Exports  and  imports,  116 

Failure  of  U.  S.  gov't,  to  provide 

for  Queen  Liliuokalani,  107 
Farming,  water  important,  209 
Fauna,  indigenous,  176 
Feast,  in  native  style,  291 
Feather  cloaks  and  caps,  64, 65, 146 
Fee-simple,  74 
Ferns,  172 
Feudalism,  61 
Feudal  tenure,  21 
Fibre  plants,  171 


INDEX 


325 


Fighting  sharks,  275 

"Fire-bird,"  182 

First  human  beings,  5 

Fishes,  numerous,  176,  184 

Fishing,  186 

Five  volcanoes  of  Hawaii  Island, 
241 

Flora,  native,  164 

Flowers,  173 

Foot-races,  274 

Foreigners'  effort  to  defeat  mon- 
archy, 41 

Foreign  labourers,  introduction,  44 

Fornander,  A.,  on  Hawaiian  lan- 
guage, 263 

Franchise,  political,  109 

Fraternal  orders,  285 

Fruit-bearing  trees,  scarce,  169 

Fruits,  193 

Funeral  of  a  chief,  144 

Gaetano,  Juan,  navigator,  10 

Games,  274 

General  laws  of  U.  S.  applicable,  73 

Germany,  as  a  possible  assailant, 
302 

Golf,  280 

Great  Britain,  as  a  possible  assail- 
ant, 301 

Grijalva,  Hernando  de,  navigator, 
10 

Gypsum,  205 

Haleakala,  mountain,  247 
Haupa  ("Hawaii's  Troy"),  fall  of, 

161 
Hawaii,  not  well  known  i;  proper 

native  name,  3 ;  earliest  history, 

4;      settled     by     Tahitans,     6; 

known    to    Spaniards    in    i6th 


century,  9;  and  New  England 
whalers,  15;  first  visit  to,  121; 
the  great  island,  126,  landing 
on,  127,  its  fascination  for 
Chinese,  128;   possibilities,  307 

Hawaiian,  words,  pronunciation 
and  transliteration,  3;  ideas  of 
creation,  5;  tradition  of  flood,  8, 
of  commanding  sun  to  stand  still, 
8;  analogue  of  "Joseph"  story, 
153;  language,  speculation  as  to 
derivation,  264 

Hawaiians,  after  Cook's  death,  18; 
disposition,  62;  fears,  82;  fitness 
to  become  citizens,  97;  public 
education,  113;  stature,  137;  de- 
portment of  upper  classes,  138; 
speculation  as  to  origin,  140;  love 
of  flowers,  173;   not  Aryan,  265 

"Helen  of  Hawaii,"  157 

Hesitation  of  king  in  permitting 
missionaries  to  teach,  55 

High-priest  Hewahewa,  53 

High  schools,  in 

Homes  of  missionaries,  56 

Homesteads,  117,  311;  methods  of 
acquiring,  312 

Honolulu,  131;  during  old  festival, 
124 

Horses,  178 

Hospitality,  142,  285 

Hotels,  285 

Human  sacrifice,  67 

Illiteracy,  small  percentage,  115 
Impetus  to  missionary  movement, 

49 
Imports  and  exports,  116 
Improbability  of  Japanese  attack, 

304 


326 


INDEX 


Indebtedness,  bonded,  114 

Independence  recognised,  43 

Indications  of  change,  40 

Industries,  195 

Influence  of  foreigners,  41,  83 

Ingenuous  savages,  137 

Inhabited  land,  74 

Instability  of  native  rule,  81 

Intellectuality,  139 

Internal  discord,  82 

Internal  history  prior  to  foreign 

intercourse,  22 
Irrigating  system,  old,  211 
Irrigation,  rights,  75;   ditches,  209 
Isolation,  177 

Japan,  population  per  sq.  ml.,  277; 
as  a  possible  assailant,  302;  and 
the  Panama  Canal,  303 

Japan's  influence,  78;  upon  feudal- 
ism, 80 

Japanese,  in  public  schools,  114; 
slow  in  coming  to  Hawaii,  reason 
for  leaving  home,  227;  on  sugar 
plantations,  228;  increase  in 
numbers,  229;  women  in  terri- 
tory, 230;  who  may  become 
citizens,  231;  increase  of  political 
influence,  232;  citizens  by  elec- 
tion, 232;  nationalism,  234; 
classes  in  Hawaii,  235;  mer- 
chants 236;  as  house-servants, 
237 

Kahoolawe  Island,  129 

Kaiwai  Channel,  131 

Kalakaua,  election  and  death,  45, 

88;    jealousy  of  foreigners,  90; 

opium  monopoly,  100 
Kalo,  taro,  170;  cultivation,  190 


Kamehameha  I,  achieves  suprem- 
acy, 27;  birthplace,  128;  mamo, 
cloak,  146;  venture  in  sandal- 
wood export,  215 

Kamehameha  II,  visits  England, 
30;  purpose,  32;  disposition,  33; 
reception  and  entertainment  in 
England,  34;  death,  35;  body 
returned  to  Hawaii,  36;  char- 
acter, 36;  action  of  nobles,  37 

Kamehameha  III,  succession,  38 

Kamehameha  IV,  general  progress 
during  his  reign,  44 

"Kamehameha  Line,"  89 

Kane,  mythical  sea,  157 

Kaohn,  206 

Kapii,  taboo  explained,  24;  vari- 
ous, 24;  common  right,  25; 
religious  motive,  26;  power, 
26,  36 

Kauai  Island,  133 

Kilauea,  volcano,  241,  244 

Kona  districts,  128 

Lanai  Island,  129 
Land  laws  amended,  43 
Land-shells,  185 

Land  tenure  after  annexation,  71 
Language,    transliteration,    3;  af- 
finity, 260,  262;  speech  of  nobles, 
263 
Large  trees,  172 
Lava  rock,  204 

Lawlessness  in  Pacific  Ocean,  47 
Laws  to  effect  annexation,  108 
Laxity  in  marital  relations,  23 
Leases  of  government  land,  76 
Leis,  wreaths  and  garlands,  174 
Leper  settlement,  130 
Leprosy  in  literature,  131 


INDEX 


327 


Liliuokalani,  Queen,  46;  her  autoc- 
racy, 91 

Literature,  its  beginning,  250;  ex- 
ample, 250;  characteristics,  253; 
by  foreigners,  254;  social,  255; 
by  natives,  256;  descriptive  and 
ethnological,  257;  leprosy  as  a 
topic,  257;  sad  tone,  258 

Lord's  Prayer  in  Hawaiian,  252 

"Lost  Tribes  of  Israel,"  8 

Lunch  hour  at  clubs,  287 

M  ALAYO-PoLYNESiAN  language,  260 

Manio,  bird,  181 

Manila  hemp,  200 

Marketing  bureau,  ti8 

Marriage,  customs  amongst  Chi- 
nese, 29;  Hawaiian  women  and 
Chinese,  218 

Maui  Island,  128 

Mauna  Hualalai,  241 

Mauna  Kaala,  131 

Mauna  Kea,  239;  earliest  ascent 
by  Europeans,  243 

Mauna  Loa,  239;  its  summit 
crater,  245 

Metallic  elements,  203 

Military,  Dep't.  of  U.  S.  Army, 
294;  strength,  294;  equipment, 
295;  hospital  statistics,  296 

Milu,  region  of  darkness,  150 

Minerals,  practically  none,  202 

Misapprehension  of  social  condi- 
tions, so,  54 

Molokai  Island,  129 

Mongoose,  178 

Monopolies,  effort  to  curb,  76 

Monroe  Doctrine,  105 

Montagu,  John,  4th  Earl  of  Sand- 
wich, 2 


Moonlight  surf  party,  289 
Mosquito,  not  indigenous,  182; 

campaign  against,  119 
Movement  adverse  to  royalty,  91 
Mulberry,  wauti,  170 
Music,  270 

National  Guaud,  297 
Naturalised  Chinese,  216 
Naval  base,  298 
Newspapers,  251 
Niihau  Island,  133 
Nuuanu  Valley,  132 

Oahu  Island,  131;  hills,  248;  only 

island  garrisoned,  297 
Opposition,  to  annexation,  100;  to 

monopolistic  estates,  io8 

Pau,  102 

Parties,  political  and  social,  92 

Passenger  traffic,  117 

Paulet's  annexation  repudiated,  43 

Pearl  Harbour,  45,  131,  299 

Pel6,  goddess  of  volcanoes,  151 

"Perpetual  Life,"  spring  of,  7 

Pests  introduced  by  foreigners,  184 

Pineapples,  197 

Po,  hades,  149 

Poi,  190 

Politics,  98 

Polo,  281 

PoljTiesian  a  primitive  language, 

268 
Polynesians,  migration  legends,  269 
Population,  reason  for  paucity,  77, 

84 
Position  of  Hawaii  as  to   Great 

Britain,  102 
Preference  in  marriage,  86 


328 


INDEX 


Preponderance  of  American  influ- 
ence, 107 
Priests  aided  in  feudal  oppression, 

23 

Primeval  forests,  169 
Private  properties,  75 
Problems       for      agriculturalists, 

192 
Progress  of  missionary  efforts,  52, 

56,  57 
Pronunciation,  3 
Prophecy  avoided,  i 
Prosperity,  115 

Protection  by  Great  Britain,  83 
Protestant  missionaries,  41 
Public  lands,  reservation  of,  72 
Public  Library,  115 
"Punch  Bowl,"  132 
Pure  Hawaiians,  135 

Railway,   development,   118;    on 

Oahu  Island,  132 
Rainfall,  282 
Ravages  by  animals,  169 
Reason,     for     name,     "Sandwich 

Islands,"   2;    for  small  area  of 

cultivated  land,  77 
Reciprocity  treaty  with  U.  S.,  45 
Regency  during  Kamehameha  IPs 

absence,  ;i;i 
Reigns    of    prehistoric   monarchs, 

79 
Religion,  ancient,  66 
Religious,  notions,  69;   societies  of 

New  England,  48 
Republic  of  Hawaii,  93 
Rice,  196 

Rock  hieroglyphics,  250 
Royalty  friendly  to  missionaries,  53 
Rubber,  197 


Sacred  birds,  66 

Salt,  205 

Sandalwood,  168 

"Sandalwood  Islands,"  reason  for 
name,  2 

Sanitation,  119 

Schools,  enrolment,  no;  teachers 
and  pupils,  1 14 

Scramble  of  foreigners  to  control, 
24 

Sea-bathing,  276 

Search  for  "Spring  of  Perpetual 
life,"  7 

Secrets  of  medicinal  plants,  154 

Seismologists'  opinions,  125 

Sisal  {henequen),  197 

Skink,  179 

Slings,  146 

Social,  conditions  a  century  ago, 
135;  life  in  summer,  283;  func- 
tions, 288 

Soil  cultivation,  192 

Soils  188,  191 

Soul,  after  death,  149;    of  nobles, 

151 

"South  Sea  Islands,"  136 

Spaniards,  their  secretiveness,  9 

Spanish  chart  of  islands,  old,  12 

Speculation  as  to  origin  of  Hawai- 
ians, 140 

Spencer,  Herbert,  on  Hawaiian  lan- 
guage, 261 

Sports,  fondness  for,  271 

"Spring  of  Perpetual  Life,"  7 

Story-tellers,  61 

Succession  to  crown,  23 

Sugar-cane,  196 

Surf-board  riding,  278 

Surf-canoeing,  277 

Surplus  revenue,  116 


INDEX 


329 


Swimmers,  63 

Swimming  and  surf-bathing,  275 

Taboo  (kapu),  explained,  24 
Temperature  records,  282 
Territorial  form  of  government,  72 
Territory,  organisation,  97 
Thaddeus,  brig,  sails  from  Boston, 

49;  arrives  at  Hawaii,  51 
Theatres,  289 
Thieving  propensities,  63 
Three  important  indigenous  plants, 

170 
Ti,  plant,  171,  187 
Time  to  visit  Hawaii,  282 
Tobacco,  199 

Translation  of  religious  books,  94 
Transliteration  of  Hawaiian  words, 

3,  250 
Treaty  of  peace,  ancient,  148 
Trees,  useful,  166,  167 
Tropical  character  of  timber,  166 

UNIQtTE  FLORA,   1 64 

Useful  metalliferous  substances,  204 

Vancouver,  George,  with  Cook, 
19;  returns,  30;  kindly  efforts,  81 


Vegetables,  194 

Vicissitudes  of  Hawaiian  govern- 
ment, 28 
Village  communities,  59 
Volcanoes,  visiting  them,  240 
Voyages  to  westward,  157 

Waialeale,  mountain,  248 

Waikiki  Beach,  132,  276 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  on  mammalia,  179, 
187 

War-canoes,  147 

Wardrobe  for  visitors,  284 

Warriors,  skilful,  145 

Water,  importance  of,  207;  care- 
ful supervision  of,  212 

"Water  of  Enduring  Life,"  mythi- 
cal spring,  6 

Water-rights,  208;  great  impor- 
tance, 213 

Weapons,  144 

Wilkes,  Capt.,  on  succession  to 
crown,  26;  interviews  with 
Kamehameha  III,  42 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associ- 
ation, 287 


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